In July of 1999 I joined four friends and followed the Ptarmigan Traverse in the North Cascades National Park. My companions are Garry Stephenson, Keith Garlinghouse, Pam Otley, and Bill Saur, all members of the Chemeketans, a hiking and climbing club in Salem, Oregon. This was the first time any of us had taken this route. It was a memorable alpine adventure.

Diary

24 July 1999 (Saturday)

Garry Stephenson leaves his pickup at the Downey Creek Trailhead. I check out the weather forecasts and Ptarmigan Traverse trip reports at the Marblemount Ranger Station of the North Cascades National Park. It is drizzly at the Ranger Station, reportedly wet at Cascade Pass. We decide to wait out the weather until tomorrow.

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