Isle Royale National Park is one of the least visited national parks having around 25,000 annual visitors. When you compare that to the more than 11,000,000 people who visit the Great Smokey Mountains National Park you realize just how few people actual get to see this great park. Access to the park is the most limiting factor in visitor usage as the island, located 34.8 miles from Grand Portage, MN, is only accessible by ferry or sea plane.

Getting There

There are three ferry options: The Voyageur II, The Queen IV, and The Ranger III. Each ferry departs from different ports, take different amounts of time and price varies. Generally tickets are between $35-$150 round trip. The ferry rides are long between 2-6 hours depending on which ferry you choose and where you want to depart from and arrive at.

There are two entry points to the park; Rock Harbor on the southeastern side of the island and Windigo on the southwestern side. Both have visitor centers, flush toilets, showers, laundry, and stores available to visitors. Be warned the showers and laundry services are expensive at $6 a shower and $6 for a load in the washer. Rock Harbor is home to the Rock Harbor Lodge, has a marina with motor boats, canoes, and kayaks for rent, a grill and a restaurant.

We ended up taking the Isle Royale Sea Planes out of Houghton, MI into Rock Harbor. The choice of flying out of MI versus Grand Marais, MN was a simple one. The Grand Marais flight was full and the Houghton one wasn’t. Thankfully, the drive time to Houghton versus Grand Marais was only slightly longer for us coming from the Twin Cities are of Minnesota. We chose to visit Rock Harbor knowing it was less remote and would offer a bit more security for us as we were traveling with a 2 and 4 year old.

It’s pretty remarkable to visit a place only accessible by boat or seaplane. The ride in the Isle Royale Sea Plane is a trip we won’t soon forget.

Pro tip: you won’t have access to your gear when aboard as they load packs into the pontoon of the plane. If traveling with small children don’t forget snacks and water. While one would think a child would be more than capable of spending 30-45 minutes of their lives without a snack or sip of water close at hand you would be wrong.

The flight out ended up being miserable due to Rowan screaming bloody murder demanding a snack that I didn’t have. The plane was thankfully loud and all passengers and pilot wore headphones. Overall, Jack was completely entranced by the journey and loved looking out the window.

Camping

Isle Royale has 36 campgrounds across its 134,400 acres of wilderness. Campgrounds offer a mix of shelter sites, tent sites, and group campsites. Aside from the group site, they are first-come-first-serve campgrounds. Most of the campsites don’t have fire pits available but they do have a picnic table. Privies are available at the campgrounds and while the more popular, and busier campground privies are equipped with toilet paper the more remote ones are likely to be out.

Pro Tip: It’s always good practice to bring along extra TP, a shovel, and hand sanitizer. Even though the campgrounds offer a privy, that doesn’t mean you will always be in camp when nature calls.

Parent Pro Tip: Scrape solids out of diapers and into an available privy or cat-hole. Bring along scented dog poop bags for any soiled, smelly diapers. Wet diapers can be set out in the sun to dry to reduce weight.

There are no extra camping fees at this park. Once you pay the entrance fee ($7/person/day or $60/year for up to three people) there are no additional fees for using the island. An annual National Parks pass,  the America the Beautiful Pass, will also cover entrance fees.

When we arrived on the island our plane didn’t land until after 5:00 p.m. so we opted to stay at the Rock Harbor campground just steps from the visitor center.

We were mildly concerned about finding an available campsite due to the late hour, the holiday weekend (we visited over the 4th of July), and the prime location of the campground. All the shelter sites were taken but all the tent sites were available. We set about making camp, delighting in the fact that the Rock Harbor Campground offers water spigots! We had a free day of not needing to filter water!

The shelter sites offer screened in, three-sided lean-tos that were much larger than we expected. Campers have the option of setting up a tent inside the shelter or simply sleeping inside. Our kiddos were adamant that we set up our tent, as we were camping after all.

The Trails

While the trails on Isle Royale aren’t signed and there is raging debate around the use of cairns (rock trail markers) on the island, the trail is generally easy to navigate. Some visitors feel compelled to knock over cairns when they see them because they believe they violate Leave No Trace Principals. These cairns are often placed by park service staff and shouldn’t be disrupted. Building your own cairns is a big backcountry no no.

Due to the thriving moose population on the island the trail is delightfully littered with moose droppings and moose prints which thrilled our children to no end! We happened to be there when the wildflowers were bursting. Everywhere we looked there was color and interest. The island is even home to the beloved Pink Lady’s Slipper which is the Minnesota state flower and a personal favorite of mine. It was my first encounter with the bloom in the wild and I was beyond excited to have spotted it!

There are lots of swampy, muddy spots but boardwalks are in place to keep hikers feet dry and the landscape undisturbed. Though narrow, our 2-year-old, Rowan, only stumbled once despite some of these boardwalks being surprisingly long. The few trails we explored on our visit had been well cleared, well maintained, and well respected by visitors.

The Wildlife

Isle Royale is known for the moose and wolf population. The populations and relationships between moose and wolves have been studied on the island since 1958. We even had the amazing opportunity to meet Candy and Rolf Peterson at their cabin during our visit to the park. The cabin is accessible by boat, leaving Rock Harbor head southwest towards the light house and Historical Edison Fishery. They have bone specimens from over 250 moose and have been conducting their research since the 1970s.

They are warm and welcoming people who answered our curious kid and adult questions with patience and kindness. Candy even read our kids a story and offered us a homemade rhubarb treat she had made.

We felt very lucky that we got to see TWO moose while there. We never saw, nor heard the wolves we know call the woods their home. We met two other hikers who had spotted a wolf but weren’t surprised that we didn’t. The ranger told us during our welcome orientation that we were unlikely to have any sort of encounter with the wolves.

The island is so remote that not a whole lot of animals have made their way there. While the island is home to squirrels and chipmunks there are no deer, no skunks, no porcupines, and no bears. We found the strangest part of our ranger orientation to the park to be the section around food storage at night. Since there are no bears, hanging a bear bag serves no purpose as the small critters can still easily access food that is hanging. The critters have become so notorious for chewing through packs that rangers recommend you sleep with your food, double bagged, in the middle of your tent. Sleeping with all our smellables nestled against my body went against most everything I have been taught around wilderness camping but it worked!

We definitely experienced the aggressive tendencies of the critters and their familiarity with humans. Jack and Rowan had a grand time playing guardians to our garbage bag during the day. We did hang that from a tree at night and were actually successful in keeping it safe from pointy claws and tiny teeth.

The Bugs

As most outdoor activities are concerned people always want to know how bad the bugs were. How do we deal with bugs and our small children? Aren’t we worried about ticks? The concern is valid and I’m here to tell you the bugs on Isle Royale weren’t too bad. The cool thing about the island is there are no ticks that will bother humans! One less thing to worry about. Mosquitos were definitely there and at times were swarming. Our first day on the trail was primarily along the shoreline with a good breeze so we weren’t bothered at all by them.

Our second day on the trail was more inland and through swampier environments. While this meant moose sightings were basically assured it also meant that the mosquitos were out and busy. Jack is extremely allergic to mosquito bites and swells up horribly when bitten. We had brought along mosquito head nets and he happily wore his in conjunction with his wide-brimmed Sunday Afternoon’s kids hat. We dabbed some Picardin lotion on our cheeks to add a second layer of defense.

Pro Tip: Pre-treating clothing with a Peremethrin spray keeps biting insects and ticks away. Wearing long sleeves and long pants also helps.

Parenting Pro Tip: Invest in solid, wicking base layers for kids. Our favorites are Wee Woolies. They keep them warm in cold months and cool and dry even in hot temps.

When bug bites do happen we trust hydrocortisone cream to keep itching and swelling to a minimum. Jack has a myriad of other allergies so he already takes a dose of liquid anti-histamine every day and we up it a little if bug bites are becoming too much of a nuisance for him.

Keeping Kids Moving

Bringing small children on a backpacking trip into the wilderness isn’t an activity every parent wants to do. It takes a lot of work, a lot of patience, and a lot of creativity. I’ll admit that there were times on the trip when I longed for the ease of traveling the wilderness by canoe, as we have done so many times before in the Boundary Waters with our kids, but looking back I see just how much our babies accomplished on our short stay on the island. We got creative and found ways to keep whining to a minimum and legs moving to a maximum.

We sing songs to keep a good tempo and beat for legs to walk to. The songs are creative and keep their brains engaged. We sing “The Ants Go Marching” and all take turns finding rhymes. We sing “Going on a Bear Hunt” and take turns coming up with crazy obstacles and what we have in our packs to help move beyond the imaginary blockade.

We make up elaborate stories that are added on to and embellished by each member of the group. The narrator has to remember all that came before and continually repeat the story as more and more is added on. We spent almost an hour and a mile of hiking describing the intricate Tuesday night drum parties the fairies of Isle Royale put on. Dogs, stick bugs, leprechauns, and many other creatures all made appearances bringing gifts, food and drink, and animals to join in on the fun.

We also take a lot of breaks. We do family “H2OYEAH” breaks together. Thankfully, our children find drinking from the hose of a dromedary bag high excitement so we rarely have to worry about dehydration.

Snacks and special treats also help. Give food whenever it is asked for. I also remind my kids regularly of all that will be waiting for them at the campsite. “We’ll have Snickers bars when we get to the campsite.” or “We can swim in our undies in the cold, cold lake when we get there.” Jack has become a professional ‘Sitting rock-finder’ and never hesitates to take a load of. Being patient and allowing them these regular breaks is a great way to break up the monotony of walking.

We have found that just holding hands and chatting, being silly, saying things like “poop” or “butt” hold an invisible power of getting rid of the whines and encouraging laughter and fun on the trail.

Other Activities

We had originally planned on hiking far longer and farther than we actually did on our visit to the island. This was our first trip leaving the framed baby carrier at home and we only brought a soft structured carrier as an emergency backup. We wanted the kids to do almost, if not all, of the hiking on their own. Jack (age 4) did amazing and could’ve easily accomplished the planned 8 mile route. Rowan (age 2) however, was more than done after the 3 miles we did on our first day.

This meant we had a lot of downtime and not a whole lot of activities to fill it with. We had brought along the card game Slap Jack and had many hilarious rounds in the campsite.

We also brought along a few action figures and tiny diggers to play in the dirt with. The kids built nests, dug tunnels, and found creative ways to make art using dirt, twigs, and moss. At one campsite we stayed in at Three Mile Campground an old metal bucket attached to a rope had been left behind and became an instant treasure for the kids. We played waterfall, made soup, and had a grand old time.

When we returned to Rock Harbor for our final night of camping before catching our float plane early the following day we opted to rent a motor boat from the lodge and explore the old fishery, climb to the top of a lighthouse, and meet Rolf and Candy Peterson.

The kiddos were so excited to cruise on the waters of Lake superior and eat the special treat of pretzels and drink Gatorade and apple juice that I had purchased from the little store before we set off.

We hadn’t really planned on doing any of this going into the trip. We assumed we’d be hiking the whole time, but that’s the nature of traveling with kids. Adventures rarely go according to plan. We have found that the beauty in the unexpected is all we get to see and do that probably wouldn’t have happened when it was just us adults along.

Isle Royale is a magical place and worth a visit no matter your physical abilities. Every person we met was happy experiencing the island just the way they wanted to wether by boat or by foot. Whether they had spent 11 days traveling from one end of the island to the other. Or if they were out for a day hike after sleeping in a comfy bed at the lodge. This isn’t a just a place for the hardened explorer. It is a place for us all.

We set off on a quick overnight backpacking trip to Myre – Big Island State Park, located near Albert Lea, Minnesota about 1.5 hours south of us. We invited my sister Katie, her dog Penny, and our cousin Liam who was visiting from India. We busily packed up our two Osprey Poco carriers the night before our departure wondering just how heavy they were going to be. We feared the worst and prepared ourselves for what was sure to be a staggering base weight (everything but food, water, and kiddos). We were shocked when our packs weighed in at a respectable 19.8 and 16 pounds. Add in the weight of food, water, and Rowan and my Osprey Poco Premium pack weighs around 50 lbs. Add food, water, and Jack to Bobby’s Osprey Poco Plus, with the Daylite pack clipped to the outside and he’s carrying about 60 pounds. Thankfully, Jack walked most of the way on his own during our trek over the weekend but we know that won’t be the case on the notoriously steep, overgrown, and rocky trail we will be facing on the Border Route Trail (BRT) next month.

We have gone ultralight on most of our backpacking gear as a means of protecting our spines and sanities. So, this trip was a lot about seeing if everything would fit, and subsequently how all of our new gear panned out in practice in the field. We loved our new tent and found it to be the perfect size for our family and three Ex-ped sleeping pads.

Our new tent!

Thankfully my cousin was kind enough to carry in our larger, heavier pillows that we won’t have with us on the BRT. We’ll be replacing them with 4oz Sea to Summit pillows.

The hike to our campsite was a short 1 mile trip but we decided to take the longest route possible, as we were all keen on a longer hike. We ended up going 3.3 miles in through pavement, mud, bugs, train tracks, and a beast of a bridge.  The trail was easy, well signed with maps at every intersection, and an active set of train tracks which thrilled our train-loving Jack!

Jack ended up walking 3 miles on his own, a new record for him and barely slowed us down. His strength and independence amazes us daily, especially when out adventuring. The backpacking sites at the park must be reserved and are spaced nicely apart with a nearby pit toilet. We learned the hard way that, though the map claims there is, there isn’t any nearby water. So if you don’t pack enough in, you’re stuck hiking the 2 mile (or more) roundtrip to the car camping campground for clean water. We didn’t bother bringing our filter as southern Minnesota has a lot of farms so we were concerned that the nitrate level in the lake water would be too high and unsafe to drink even after filtering.

This was only Rowan’s second night sleeping in a tent which meant it was a difficult nights sleep. But, she was cheerful the next day despite her nighttime shenanigans!

She’s lucky that she gets to nap whenever she pleases though… We aren’t so lucky.

Jack shocked us with his eating habits on the trip as he was willing to try tuna, loving it and subsequently asking for it on his bean burrito. He also ate almost all of his dinosaur egg-filled oatmeal (something he refuses to eat at home). We are quickly discovering that when out on a wilderness adventure Jack seems to realize that what we’re having is his only choice so he better eat or he will be hungry.

We also came to realize that we may need to sacrifice a bit of weight and be willing to bring a hammock along on our trip. That thing provides endless entertainment for our Jack while we’re in camp.

This trip was a resounding success with lessons learned, packing lists refined, and helped us to realize that the backpacking section of our trip is no doubt going to be the most physically demanding activity we have ever done in our lives. We know it will test us to our limits and we may not succeed. But, we are going in with a positive attitude, hopes held high, and an acceptance of whatever comes our way along the journey. We are always preaching that a trip with babies and toddlers along is never about the destination. It’s about the path you take getting there. We sometimes need to take a moment and listen to the advice we so readily give to others. If it comes down to it and nobody is having fun on the backpacking portion of our Arrowhead Traverse trip, then we’ll just stop. Simple as that.

The last time I went backpacking we had just begun the process of trying for our first baby. Four long years later and we have two beautiful children, Jack (2.5 years old) and Rowan (5 months). This backpacking trip was the shortest we’ve ever done. We walked a whole 0.8 miles to our beautiful campsite in Lake Maria State Park! It took us 38 minutes. Jack walked the entire distance himself, with his backpack, and his trusty trekking pole!

He helped me pack his backpack before we left to go “backpack hiking” (as he calls it). Inside there was a lightweight book, a car, a tiny teddy bear, and a Larabar (Jack’s favorite snack). We made it lightweight enough where it was zero burden to him and would be zero burden to us when he would inevitably tire of it and ask us to carry it for him. Jack loves his “packpack” and often asks for it whether we’re hiking or not! I wasn’t surprised though that in the morning, after sleeping in the tent and exploring for hours he had zero desire to put his pack back on.

Rowan was on my front in my new LILLEBaby Airflow that I am completely obsessed with! I seriously adore this carrier, after having tried what feels like dozens of carriers I have found one that is truly comfortable for me! The lumbar support in the back, the attention to detail, the functionality of it, the breathability, it’s all just so amazing! I really can’t speak highly enough of this wonderful carrier!

It was my first time wearing a baby in the front and a full-sized pack on my back. It’s tricky to do but still doable. It was hard for me to get my hipbelt on my pack tight enough to take the weight of the pack off my shoulders so I’ll have to work on it. We are dreaming of creating a front carrier that can simply link into the backpack so two hipbelts aren’t necessary, one day!

We each carried a 65 liter pack and definitely had room to spare when just packing for an overnight. Bobby carried most of our gear in his pack (tent, sleep systems, first aid kit, additional layers, stove, utensils, and emergency supplies) while I carried food, extra water, headlamp, emergency blanket, and the raingear. Usually your biggest weight concern during a backpacking trip is food. For an overnight where we only needed to worry about dinner and breakfast our food weight was minimal. We did have the extra weight of bottles and formula for Rowan, who is bottle fed.

Check out our packing list for this trip

The trails in this small state park are wide, with lots of ruts, and mud to cross. But, it is well signed and I can only imagine how picturesque (and buggy) this park must be in the summertime after leafout!

Lake Maria is a relatively small state park at only 1,756 acres but it has 17 backpacking sites, 2 group campsites, and 3 camper cabins that you have to hike in to. All sites must be reserved ahead of time either by phone or online. There is an $8.50 reservation fee, however, if you are reserving the site the same day there is no reservation fee. This is the perfect park for families looking to take their first backpacking trip together. The short distance makes it a great destination for a trial run or a quick overnight. A test run will help you work through the kinks, figure out logistics and gear, and give you the confidence you may need to tackle a longer trek.

Each campsite is equipped with a picnic table, a fire ring (why would you carry firewood in?), a tent pad, and a latrine. We chose site B2 after consulting Campsite Reports which stated that though it was near to a road the noise wasn’t bothersome, the road wasn’t in view, and the peninsula the site is situated on makes it the most picturesque in the park. That site was so right! It was gorgeous! We quickly noticed that a beaver had definitely been in the area recently and soon found its nearby dam. We got an evening and morning show from the beaver family as they swam around and got to hear the unique sound of their tail slaps.

When planning meals for a backpacking trip I do love the ease of rehydrating a pre-made meal, especially when trekking with children and needing meals to be fast, easy, and tasty. Every season we buy a big variety box of Mountain House meals to have handy for trips. We’re excited because they just introduced two new Tex-mex inspired meals: the Chicken Fajita Bowl and Spicy Southwest Breakfast Hash. We tried out these new flavors on our backpacking trip to see if they are good enough to be added to our normal backpacking meal rotation.

For dinner we had the Chicken Fajita Bowls and ate them out of tortilla shells. I had also brought along a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Jack, as he is a picky eater and we had never tried that variety before. He happily ate a couple of bites from the tortilla before he declared that he was ready for his sandwich. We liked the new flavor and will definitely have it again, it’s a nice addition to the Mountain House menu. As with all dehydrated meals, make sure you stir them up really well and let them cook long enough. Ours could’ve used a little more cooking time than we allotted for.

For breakfast the next day, we enjoyed the delicious new Spicy Southwest Breakfast Hash! We again filled tortillas and were easily able to split the bag between the two of us and actually had some leftover because the meals were so hearty. Had Jack been willing to try something new in the morning there would have definitely been enough for all three of us. As it happened Jack chose to eat his favorite Larabars and an apple for breakfast instead.

The breakfast did have a ton of flavor and a nice kick to it that helped us wake up after what seemed like almost no sleep at all… We began the night on three Exped Syn Mat Hyperlite MW sleeping pads. At one pound these mats are great not only for their compact pack size and weight, but the fact that they are wider than normal sleeping pads which means you can easily fit small children on them next to you. We tested this theory when our golden retriever popped one of the sleeping pads at 10:00 p.m. and we had to cram all 4 of us onto two pads. It was a chilly night so the close quarters just helped keep us warm and we all did fit!

Sleeping when camping with kids is never an easy task. I think we all switched places at least twice, Jack refused to sleep until the sun set and kept waking his sister with his tent shenanigans. Rowan was up smiling and cooing for sections of the night for no apparent reason, although she was probably a little too warm in all her layers… Layering is the key to successful body temperature control. And we definitely made sure to do that with both kiddos on this trip as it got into the low 40s at night. They were both in Wee Woolie base layers, Smartwool socks, fleece PJs, and then Rowan had a Columbia bunting, and a Merino Kids Sleep Sack on. Jack had his Oakiwear down jacket, fleece hat, and his down blanket from Costco for bedding. Both kids were plenty warm throughout the night.

Despite the lack of sleep for us parents it was so wonderful to get out and have a night in a tent with our two kiddos by our sides. This was Rowan’s first camping trip and honestly, looking back, it was a great time for all of us. We got to enjoy a solid 14 hours of tantrum-free time with Jack, who only lost it as we were telling him it was time to get in the truck. It got us excited about all the trips to come this summer and all the fun these two crazy siblings will have as they go through life together.

Clear skies Friday night

For my third trip of the summer to Seattle I picked Goat Rocks Wilderness as a destination since I’d heard great things, but had never made it down that way before. Goat Rocks is situated in a pretty awesome location between Mount Rainier and Mount Adams. Our friend Tom had the weekend off of work so he was able to join me on the trip.

My plane landed in Seattle around 5:30pm Friday evening and Tom was there to pick me up. We were headed south on I-5 shortly thereafter. After a quick bite to eat at the Naches Tavern (delicious burgers!)  and a very long journey along forest roads we were finally at the Snowgrass Flats trailhead. We had picked a loop hike through the wilderness area for the weekend that we found off of WTA’s website: Cispus Basin and Cispus Pass.

By the time we made it to the trailhead it was almost 10pm and it was quite dark out. The moon had already set so we relied on our headlamps for navigation. I was surprised that we saw a couple of other groups at the trailhead getting ready to head out into the dark as we were disembarking. Unfortunately, I have no photos for the first 5 miles of this hike since they were trekked in the dark. There wasn’t much to look at besides making sure my feet were tripping over any roots. But, this part of the trail was really easy to navigate by headlamp and we made quick time. I recently acquired a new headlamp through a contest on Yonder and it has a red mode to help you keep your night vision which I used for most of the hike in.

Flying for backpacking poses a couple of logistical issues. The biggest ones for me are that I can’t pack fuel for my Jetboil or water in my MSR bladder. I’ve been lucky enough to have my friends be able to grab fuel for me before I arrive, but water posed a problem on this trip. I neglected to fill up at the airport or at dinner so I didn’t have any water for the first couple of miles. My plan was to hike to the Goat Creek crossing 1.8 miles in to fill up. We made it to the crossing without issue, but I’m not the fastest at filtering with my current setup. I recently switched to using a Sawyer Mini water filter to cut down on weight. But I only have a 16oz bag for it which means after every 16oz I filter I have to unhook the filter and refill the squeeze bag. As I crouched next to the stream slowly filtering I felt bad for making Tom stand around in the dark so long. I also made a mental note to invest in a larger squeeze bag for the Sawyer since my slow speed has been a burden on my last two trips.

Directly on the other side of the bridge over the creek there were a couple of backpackers setting up camp for the night. Taking a nap sounded really good after a day of work, a flight to Seattle, a long car ride, and a couple miles of backpacking but we wanted to get further in before setting up camp so we could wake up in the alpine.

As we cranked out the miles beneath the cloak of night I was abruptly alerted by a noise in the bushes to my right. My initial instinct was that it was a bear so I started shouting into the ether and slowed down so Tom and I would be close. Tom came up behind me and asked what was going on, I told him there was a bear or something and we both shouted a little bit. Then, in the distance, I saw two red glowing eyes starring back at me. I asked Tom if he could see the glowing red eyes, but he said he could only see white eyes. After being confused for a brief second we realized that the red light in my headlamp was reflecting back at me. Then the creature moved forward and we could see the big scary beast was actually a tiny little deer.

After our scary deer moment we continued on until taking a left onto the Lily Basin trail towards Alpine Camp. I really had no idea what to expect of Alpine Camp besides a little waypoint on our map. Since there were a lot of cars at the trailhead I worried that we wouldn’t be able to find a spot to camp. Our worries grew as each campsite we found was taken. Most of them were set back a ways from the main trail so we’d sneak in quietly to see if it was available only to turn around as soon as a tent reflected back at us. At 5.4 miles in we found an open campsite and quickly fell asleep. I used my Outdoor Research Helium Bivy for this trip and loved sleeping with my head out in the open with the Milky Way flowing above me.

Goat Creek cascading down from Goat Lake across the basin

When I awoke the next morning I found we were in an alpine wonderland. We were nestled in the trees and the back of our campsite had an amazing view across Goat Basin. Through the trees I could even make out Goat Creek coming down the other side of the valley.

We started up breakfast and soon the Gray Jays were all over our campsite. I had my sleeping bag hanging from a tree and had to keep shooing them away to make sure none of them would poop on my bag! But then I’d turn around and another one would be trying to steal my food. You can definitely tell that people have been feeding them and they’re habituated.

The Gray Jays surrounded us during breakfast

Leaving our campsite I turned to the south to see Mount Adams dominating the horizon. Hiking in the dark definitely gives you surprises in the morning! There’s a small spring that runs through Alpine Camp where we filled up our water. I found that I was getting much faster with my Sawyer and filled up in no time.

Lily Basin Trail through Alpine Camp with Mount Adams in the distance

We also found that there are a lot of campsites at Alpine Camp. I lost count and as we continued on the trail we passed even more sites. I was surprised to find very little trash in the area and it seemed to be well taken care of.

Across from the spring where we pumped water there was a little trail with two signposts. Both signs had fallen off the posts but based on the direction the trail headed we assumed it would meet up with the main trail that would take us up to the Pacific Crest Trail. Our assumptions were right, but I was disappointed to find that after we joined up with the main Snowgrass Flats trail there was a little sign signaling that the trail we had used was closed for restoration. It would’ve been nice if that signage was on both ends of the trail! So if you reference our GPX, go back to the main trail from camp instead of using the one we used.

Intersection with the PCT

After passing a half dozen more campsites along the Snowgrass Flats trail we reached the intersection with the PCT in a beautiful open meadow with ancient volcano spires above. They say these mountains are remnants of a large volcano that has been extinct for 2 million years and was over 12,000 feet tall. That volcano has eroded away to the peaks we see today. It’s fun to imagine what Mount Adams and Mount Rainier will look like in 2 million years. Will new volcanoes rise up to replace them?

Old Snowy Mountain and Ives Peak

Our travel on the PCT was flat and easy. Heading south we reached the most ambitious trail retaining wall I’ve ever encountered. The talus slope above the trail had been stacked for 3-4 feet to allow rock-free passage. This part of the trail is also where we passed a guy who I’m assuming was a thru-hiker who was rocking the longest kilt I’ve ever seen.

The most impressive retaining wall I’ve ever seen on a trail

A bit further along we passed a bow hunter decked out in camouflage. I asked him if he’s seen anything and he said he’d been out since Tuesday and that he’d seen some Elk but they weren’t close enough for him to shoot. I asked him what he’d do if he ever shot one and he said he’d carry it out on his back. I was quite impressed that he’d be able to carry an entire Elk on his back, but then he informed me that he’d cut it up into pieces and take multiple trips. I told him he was much more ambitious than I am. I can’t imagine having to take 4 trips in and out with all of that weight on my back! Sometimes online there’s a lot of animosity between hunters and hikers so it was great to have such a positive interaction on the trail. After all, we’re all out there for the same basic reasons, we just enjoy it in slightly different ways.

Our first view of Cispus Basin. Big Horn is the peak that looks highest with Goat Citadel being the flatter peak to the right.

Eventually the PCT took us to an overlook at the edge of Cispus Basin. The view up the basin was amazing and reminded me why I love the Cascades so much. Tom and I had discussed trying to scramble a peak so we were looking at the ridge line scoping out which one was our objective – Gilbert Peak. We decided it wasn’t visible from this vantage and we continued on. I had a route description for the peak from my Fred Beckey book which was pretty vague.

Pacific Crest Trail enters Cispus Basin

We wandered on towards the head of the basin where Fred claimed we would follow a rock escarpment to the top of a ridge. The PCT crossed Cispus Creek here so we took a break for lunch before starting our trek cross country towards the craggy peaks above. We assumed the ‘rock escarpment’ Beckey describes is the creek bed.

PCT towards Cispus Pass

At this point we left the PCT, but we would rejoin it later. If you follow our GPX and don’t feel like adding elevation and distance to your trip, you should stick to the PCT and follow it up to Cispus Pass.

Cispus Creek

Our steep cross country travel went slowly and we eventually reached a high plateau with another campsite. But based on all of the ruts from runoff I wouldn’t want to be there in a storm. There were also a couple of campsites lower in the basin right off the PCT which would make an awesome place to spend the night. Actually, when I was boarding my plane in Minnesota for Seattle the guy behind me on the jetway asked me if I was a backpacker and when I told him where we were going he recommended one of the campsites in this basin.

Cross country travel

We continue up to the saddle taking the path of least resistance. The route description to Gilbert Peak said that at the top of the saddle we would traverse under a cliff band and then ascend a ‘broad rotten gully’. At the top of the saddle we spotted a couple of people near the top of Little Horn (next to Big Horn) along with some 40 goats across Cispus Basin. But, we didn’t see an obvious way up the ‘broad rotten gully’. We saw some other climbers slowly picking there way through the lose rock and Tom and I both agreed that it didn’t look like our idea of fun. Plus, clouds were rolling in and visibility was quickly deteriorating. We agreed to skip the peak and hike back to Cispus Pass via goat trails on the ridge to avoid backtracking.

At least 40 goats in the distance.

Beckey’s “Broad Rotten Gully” to the right. Climber in the bottom left for scale.

After crossing moderately steep scree slopes we debating the best route forward as the terrain steepened. From along the ridge we were following a young couple emerged in the distance. I didn’t think we’d be able to travel across the section of ridge they were coming up to, but after seeing them cross it with ease I was excited to know we had a straightforward path ahead of us. We chatted with the couple for a bit and they seem optimistic about being able to climb the gully we backed off on. They were prepared with helmets but no other supplies. The clouds were completely obscuring the summits by this point, but they continued ahead anyway.

Klickitat Basin and Klichitat Creek lie on the opposite side of the ridge from Cispus Pass. From the saddle of the ridge we had beautiful views down both valleys. We could also see some scattered showers in the distance, but we managed to avoid any precipitation.

Scattered showers down Klickitat Basin

We made our way down to Cispus Pass through steeper terrain and found ourselves back on the PCT. As we continued south on the trail we crossed the edge of the Yakima Indian Reservation. Numerous signs warned us to stay on trail to avoid trespassing.

Yakima Reservation

We began to pass other hikers on the trail and I started to worry that it might be hard to find a spot at our destination for the night – Sheep Lake.

One person we passed on the trail was a northbound PCT hiker who had hiked from Bend, OR. She asked me if I was a southbound PCT hiker as I passed her. I took it as compliment and not that I was carrying way too much gear or that I smelled too bad for only being on the trail for one night!

Sheep Lake

When we arrived at Sheep Lake we found most of the sites were taken. We also found a couple of pairs of underwear and copious amounts of toilet paper which was disappointing considering how great of shape Alpine Camp was in. We managed to grab one of the last available established sites. It was on the southwest side of the lake. We sat and watch throngs of other backpackers fill in every flat surface around the tiny lake. Soon our campsite’s toilet area had another group camping in it right next to the piles of toilet paper and pair of boxers some lazy person had left behind. I don’t recommend camping here if you can avoid it.

Fog in the trees

Fog rolled in and soon visibility was less than 100 feet. A loud group from across the lake chattered on into the night. There weren’t any stars visible for us that night and both Tom and I zipped our bivies fully closed just in case it started to rain.

During the night I had a recurring dream of unzipping from my bivy and finding myself surrounded by tents only to realize that I’m still dreaming. When I woke in the morning for real no additional tents were found but that loud group across the lake was still chattering loudly.

Hiking out in the mist

Tom and I decide to hike out in the mist without breakfast to get away from all the people. We grabbed breakfast in a small meadow, which we later found out had a smaller lake right next door but we couldn’t see it in the fog.

The trail from here went up and down a bit initially which was frustrating for our tired legs. We didn’t take a side trail to a summit on the ridge–Nanny Peak–due to the thick fog, although there were some cool looking cliffs in the vicinity that would be fun to explore. The steep descent to Walupt Lake made us glad we hadn’t hiked the loop counter-clockwise. This part of the trail was in much rougher shape than the trails we had hiked prior. It wouldn’t have been nearly as easy to hike in on in the dark as the Snowgrass Flat trail if we had hiked the loop counter-clockwise.

Walupt Lake

As we descended we eventually emerged from the fog layer and found ourselves at Walupt Lake. There’s a campground and trailhead with latrines and water spigot by the lake. The best way to do this hike would be to have a car shuttle set up at Walupt Lake. But we didn’t have two cars so we had two options: hitchhike or follow a vague description we had for completely the loop on foot and adding 6.5 miles.

The hiking route to complete the loop starts off with walking along the road to just past a horse camp. We decided we’d start walking and try to get a ride from anyone leaving the campground. Unfortunately, we were hiking out early in the morning and we only saw two cars. The first was a pickup truck who drove past apologizing to us and the second had some scary bumper stickers so we didn’t even ask for a ride. After we walked 1.5 miles on the road we came to a sign for Klickitat Trail 7A which by a mishmash of trails and old forest road would bring us back to the Snowgrass Flats trailhead.

Trail 7A from the road

Re-entering Goat Rocks Wilderness on trail 7A

7A starts in way better shape than we expected. We found ourselves back in the Goat Rocks Wilderness and shortly thereafter fording a shin-deep river. The path was flagged the entire way so it was always obvious where to go, and the route description on WTA ended up being just descriptive enough. I later learned there’s an amazing waterfall upstream from here that I wish we would’ve checked out.

Cispus River Ford

After the river the trail took us through a varied forest. At times it felt like Western Washington while other times it felt like Eastern Washington. Luckily, this meant the 6.5 miles went much faster than I expected it to go. We also kept ourselves entertained by trying to see how many other footprints, horse hoofprints, and tire tracks we could find in the mud. The trail was pretty overgrown at times so it was surprising to see other people had been out here. Even more surprising was that some people had managed to get a dirt bike or a truck on some of the abandoned roads recently. There was an enormous amount of trash and shotgun shells all over the place. Suffice it to say, if you can arrange a shuttle, that would be preferred. The hardest part of the hike back is where the WTA description says to take the last section of trail/road “for some time”. According to my GPS, “for some time” equates to a mile. But it seemed like the longest mile ever!

After this trip I definitely want to get back to the Goat Rocks Wilderness to explore more! I’d love to camp with Maura and Jack in Cispus Basin at that beautiful site nestled at the head of the valley. But, if I were to go back I would do Cispus Basin as a side trip from Snowgrass Flats and then do a loop north on the Lily Basin trail to Goat Lake and out on Goat Ridge instead of going south to Sheep Lake. Taking this other loop would mean you wouldn’t have to arrange a shuttle or walk on trail 7A. Here’s the WTA description for that Snowgrass Flats to Goat Ridge loop.

See more pictures of this trip on our Facebook page

From the airport, Marie and I made the drive to the trailhead with only two pitstops – one to drop her dog, Beth, off at our friend’s place (dogs aren’t allowed in National Parks) and another for some pre-trail Subway. The trailhead was full so we had to park along the road and walk a little ways, but it wasn’t too far. Despite all of the cars we didn’t see that many people on the trail.

Old logging road

The trail begins on a decommissioned logging road that nature is slowly taking back. This part of the trail is really flat and easy so you can crank out the miles. There are a few sections where the bushes are trying to take the trail back and due to recent rains made our pants pretty wet.

Bridge over Thornton Creek

At 1.16 miles we crossed a sturdy log bridge over Thornton Creek. It was pretty hot out and we took note that the creek had some good swimming holes to take advantage of on our hike out on Sunday. Remnants of an old, not so sturdy bridge can also be seen in the debris in the creek.

Thornton Creek

After the creek, the trail continues to follow the old forest road. There were a couple of small sink holes which were cool to look at, but other than that this part of the trail is pretty non-descript. I was ready for some views! Every once and a while you could see through the trees to some of the glacier-clad peaks across the valley, but I must admit, I found myself day dreaming about what the hike to Cascade Pass would’ve been like.

At a little over 2 miles from the trailhead, the trail left the forest road and started to get more interesting. As the trail steepened, the forest began getting more ancient as we left the areas that had been logged along the road in the 1960s.

Entering North Cascades National Park

3.5 miles in we entered North Cascades National Park. I’m well known for my poor distance estimation skills and I insisted to Marie that we were nearly to the ridge where we’d start descending to the lake. But, as we continued upwards and began passing switchback after switchback I realized I was wrong. In reality, we still had almost a mile left until we’d get to the ridge and have any sort of view.

We crossed paths with a very nice NPS ranger who we chatted with for a bit. He asked us where we were headed and we told him we were meeting our friends who had our permit. He mentioned that they had set up their tent in an improper location and that when we set up our tents we should make sure they’re in a designated campsite! All of us take pride in following the rules in our parks and wilderness areas so I had a good chuckle that Jesse had messed up. Later I learned he had found an amazing site overlooking the lake, but it was closed for restoration. Poor signage made it so this wasn’t apparent, usually there’s a little ‘area closed for restoration’ sign to make it clear. So if you’re camping by the lakes, make sure you camp in an area explicitly labeled as a campsite – there are 3 of them.

Trail junction at ridge. Heading left takes you to Thornton Lake (note it’s misspelled on the sign). Heading straight takes you to Trappers Peak.

Finally, at 4.3 miles in we reached the trail junction at the ridge. After some snacks we headed toward the lakes to meet up with Jesse and Wendy. From the trail junction the path starts to really open up and you begin to get amazing views of the surrounding peaks. This is just a teaser of what was in store for us the next day when we scrambled up Trappers Peak.

Marie and Thornton Lake

From the ridge we quickly descended about 600 feet in a little over a half mile. The entire time we were surrounded by huckleberries. The number of berries was overwhelming! And they were so delicious. By the end of the trip Jesse’s face was permanently stained blue. It’s a good thing it wasn’t too cold or we would’ve assumed he had hypothermia from his blue lips!

I couldn’t stop snapping pictures the entire way down to the lake. There are actually three lakes, we could only really see the first one from this part of the trail. Behind the lakes stands Mount Triumph with a glacier pouring out of it (some of which can be seen in the left side of the photo above). To the right of the lake is Trappers Peak which we’d summit the next day.

Wendy and Jesse waiting for us.

As we continued the steep descent to the ridge Wendy and Jesse came into view relaxing on some rocks near the lake. I was glad our plan had worked out and that we were all able to meet up even without a way to communicate with one another!

To access the camping area we descended some large boulders and crossed a log jam

Once at the lake we reached the log jam that I had read about prior to the trip. The NPS site mentions that it can be challenging to cross the logs. However, since we had such a poor snowpack last year the lake was really low and the log jam was easy to cross. In the picture above you can see the lines on the rocks of where the water used to be. It was almost dinner time once we got to the lake, and unfortunately it was too cold now for swimming. So we cooked along the rocks on the lake and then went to bed.

Self-portrait of me at dusk with the lake and Trappers Peak. I’m not sure how I didn’t fall in the water taking this.

Our campsite was just big enough for two tents and my bivy. Each of the three sites at the lake have a 4 person capacity and require bear canisters for food storage (you can rent them from the Marblemount ranger station if you don’t have one already).  The composting toilet was a short, awkward, walk away. I say it was awkward because you have to pass through the other campsites to get to it. Our site was really nice because we were right next to the lake outlet and had a clear view down the creek valley. Also remember that no fires are allowed here any time of the year – it seemed like people were following that rule since there wasn’t a fire ring at the site.

Wendy and Jesse breaking camp Sunday morning

The next morning we weren’t in a huge rush so we all slept in a bit and then ate a quick breakfast. After breaking camp we made our way back up the ridge to the junction with Trappers Peak. The hike back out to the ridge was slowed by the abundance of huckleberries around us.

Beginning the hike up to Trappers Peak

Wendy and Jesse were training for the Wonderland Trail so they wanted to carry their full packs up the peak. Marie and I have no such plans, so we had no problem stashing our gear in the trees at the trail junction. The trail up Trappers Peak begins with several social trails and at times it was difficult to tell which way we were supposed to go, but it seems all of the paths eventually converge. The way up to the peak is quite easy, with just a few steep sections. The crux of the climb comes early on when you have to scramble up a little rock gully. The most difficult part of that section for us was that a group of 4 was trying to come down at the same time as us and there isn’t any room for passing.

Trappers Peak in the distance

The hike up to Trappers Peak was definitely the highlight of the weekend for me. The views are jaw-dropping all around you and it was really fun to see the summit of the peak in front of us as we traversed the ridgeline. To our left the entire way up we could see our campsite over 1,000 feet below which gave me a real sense of accomplishment.

Wendy and Marie on the trail. To the left in the valley is the town of Newhalem

Group shot on the ridge

Jesse with our campsite visible at the mouth of the lake below

Marie and Wendy hiking up Trappers Peak

Seriously, I couldn’t have asked for a more photogenic trail to kick off my week back in Washington. From the top we could also see the peaks around Cascade Pass which was fun. Unfortunately, it was too hazy to see any of the volcanoes, but there were plenty of other beautiful mountains to gawk at.

Jesse on the summit with the Picket Range in the background

There are a number of false summits. Eventually, it becomes quite obvious where the summit is as you climb steeply up the last section of trail. The top of the mountain is really wide so Jesse and I wandered around a bit climbing to the top of each stack of rocks and asking one another who was taller. Eventually we found the summit, only to find it covered in tiny little gnats that wouldn’t leave us alone! After grabbing a shot of Jesse we retreated to a few feet away which had fewer flies. Careful, there’s a really steep drop off the backside of the summit!

A glacier clinging onto granite below Mount Triumph

Looking back on Jesse near the summit

The three Thorton Lakes

From the summit you can see all three lakes below. In the morning we had met a couple who had climbed Mount Triumph the day before and they said they camped at the highest lake. If I ever come back here that’s definitely where I’d want to camp. Our campsite was nice, but I didn’t like being so close to two other groups. To camp at the third lake you need to obtain a permit to camp at the Triumph Col cross-country zone. No camping is allowed at the second lake.

Mount Triumph and Thorton Lakes

Lunch near the summit with the Picket Range behind us

We ate our lunches at the summit with beauty all around us. It was probably the longest I’ve ever lingered at a summit, I don’t think any of us wanted to leave. Plus, the breeze on top of the mountain helped calm the heat. Eventually we had to descend to get back into Seattle at a reasonable hour. The hike out went smoothly, but the last couple of miles on the forest road definitely dragged on. When we got to Thornton Creek we all jumped in to cool off before getting back to our cars and heading home. The water in the creek was a lot colder than the lake’s water was, I’m not sure how that works!

While I had my heart set on Cascade Pass, I’m thankful we were able to get a permit for this beautiful hike that I didn’t even know about before heading out. We hardly saw anyone and due to the permit system there were only two other groups camping at the lake which was nice. Since we did this as an overnight we had plenty of time to explore the lake and the mountain. If I were to day hike this trail I would skip the lake and just hit the summit due to the elevation you lose going down to the lake.

A weeks after our trip a number of fires raged through the North Cascades. The Goodell fire started on August 10 and was just a few miles east of where we hiked. In the map below you can see the fire’s perimeter in relation to the trail. The three W’s mark that the lakes could be used by helicopters for collecting water. Suffice it to say, the views back towards Newhalem will look different now than they did when we were there the week prior.

Map from Great Basin Incident Management

My GaiaGPS app on my iPhone measured it as .94 miles from the trail junction on the ridge to the summit of Trappers Peak with 1,306 feet of elevation gain one-way. It measured 4.93 miles to the lake from the trailhead with 3,106 feet of elevation gain and 1,124 feet of elevation loss one-way. The NPS claims it’s 5.2 miles to the lake with 2,400 feet of elevation gain so believe whichever number makes you feel best!

My flight was scheduled after work on a Friday night and, to make the weekend even more exciting, I had a procedure done Friday morning to have a cyst removed from my scalp. Don’t worry, the surgeon signed off on me flying and backpacking. But this did make for quite a long day as I had to be at the clinic at 6:30am CT and we didn’t drive up to the trailhead until 12:30am PT. Thanks to our friends Jesse and Kelly for picking me up from the airport so we could get going as quick as possible!

Arriving at the trailhead we discovered we weren’t the only people with the idea of camping there. Kelly and I wandered around a bit trying to find a nice flat spot for our tents but failed to find anything not sloping and ended up setting up next to Jesse’s car at the trailhead. Somehow Jesse managed to sleep in the back of his car even though his feet stick out the end of it! We all quickly fell asleep and the morning came much too soon.

I’ve been sleeping in an OR Helium Bivy my last couple of solo trips and my biggest fear when sleeping near cars is that someone is going to run me over. This fear was amplified after hearing about an incident that had occurred the previous weekend at the Squamish music festival.

At around 5am I woke up in a panic at the sound of a truck rushing toward me. A climbing guide was parking in a nearby spot. I was protected by another vehicle but the sound definitely startled me awake. From there, the noises of the other campers at the trailhead chatting and cooking breakfast along with more cars arriving made sleep futile. After a quick breakfast and a long search for our America the Beautiful pass (which ultimately was found lodged behind the glove box) we were on our way up the trail.

Section of the trail on the old mining road

The trail starts on an old mining road following the North Fork of the Teanaway River (it’s more of a creek here). The creek tumbled peacefully beside us as we worked our way up a gentle grade. This first part of the trail is also part of the Esmeralda Basin trail. At the first junction, .3 miles in, we turned right to go to Longs Pass and Ingalls Lake. If we were to continue straight we would’ve ended up at Esmeralda Basin. There was good signage here for us, but Jesse noted when he was here before it wasn’t signed and they ended up going the wrong way.

Esmeralda Peaks in the distance

The trail began to climb more steeply and as we worked our way up we enjoyed the ever expanding views as we neared the tree line. As a point of interest, there is an old mining road that follows the trail–if you look between the switchbacks you can see where it used to cut straight up the mountainside.

Turn right to go to Longs Pass. Continuing straight goes to Ingalls Lake.

At the 2-mile mark the trail splits again. We headed right to continue on the trail to Longs Pass, continuing straight would take hikers to Ingalls Lake. We were doing the loop counter clockwise to minimize elevation gain (this was a really good decision based on trail conditions! As we’ll soon see…).

Rainier starting to peak out from behind the other mountains. In the foreground you can see fragments of the old mining road.

Now above the tree line, we were like kids in a candy store pointing out Rainier and Adams as they popped into view. We also stumbled upon a small herd of deer grazing which I unfortunately failed to get any decent pictures of. We were lucky that the sun hadn’t popped over the ridge yet so we stayed cool for the ascent. This section of trail would be very dry and hot in the sun. Plus, it climbs 600 feet in a half mile of switchbacks through rocks and meadows.  Near the top it was hard to follow the trail due to the lack of vegetation so we headed straight up towards the ridge sticking to rocky surfaces to avoid damaging any plants struggling to survive. A few seconds before we reached the ridge we found ourselves looking up and having 9,415 foot Mount Stewart dominating our view. It had us all in awe as we dropped our packs, grabbed some snacks, and started taking a crazy amount of photos.

Jaw-dropping views of Mount Stewart

As we enjoyed the literal high point of our trip we were soon accompanied by 2 mountain goats. As they swaggered towards us we started to get nervous that they didn’t seem to mind our presence at all. Not wanting to be gored we decided to continue on our way once they started making noise and ducking their heads in our general direction.

Our ornery goat friends

To continue our loop we needed to drop down the opposite side of the ridge towards Ingalls Creek. From the pass it was hard for us to see exactly where the trail went, all we could see were some cliffs and steep talus fields along with a snow field. After some debate we spotted a series of cairns which led us down through the cliffs. Soon we were plunge stepping our way down the snowfield in the general direction of the creek at the bottom of the valley. At the bottom of the snowfield the “trail” continued in the form of a stream fueled by the snowmelt. GPS on Jesse’s phone was very helpful here along with waterproof shoes and gaiters.

This part of the trail made us feel pretty badass. It also made us glad we were descending this section and not going up it.

Gaiters came in handy here

About a mile after leaving our angry goat friends and a loss of 1300 feet we were at the bridge that crosses Ingalls Creek. We stopped again to rest our legs and fuel up with some snacks. There are a few campsite in this area where climbers typically stay prior to climbing Mount Stuart. All I could think sitting there looking up at the huge mountain was how thankful I was that I didn’t have to climb all the way up it!

View of Longs Pass (low point of ridge in right half of photo) from near Ingalls Creek

Bridge across Ingalls Creek

Glacier Lilies were in bloom

From the bridge across the creek we wandered up the trail towards Ingalls Lake. This part of the trail also required some route-finding skills as the trail is frequently interrupted by large boulder fields from the avalanche chutes descending Mount Stuart. We usually could find our way by cairns but sometimes it took a little hunting to find them.

Jesse and Kelly navigating a bouldery creek that descends Mount Stewart

Our 6-mile day came to an end when we reached a wide, open meadow below Ingalls Peak and the cliffs protecting Ingalls Lake. The entire day on the trail we encountered only one other person about 2 miles in. From there we had everything to ourselves–including this gorgeous meadow in the perfect setting. I’ll go so far as to say this was one of the best campsite I’ve ever slept in. We found the perfect spots for our tents on a rock outcropping with views of Mount Stuart to one side and Ingalls Peak to the other. Don’t forget that camping is not allowed within a half mile of the lake.

Nothing to complain about here!

Kelly ascending the back way to Lake Ingalls

Can you spot Kelly down on that rock outcrop?

After a nap we scrambled across the rocky cliffs around us and eventually made our way cross-country to Ingalls Lake. The lake is still snow-covered, but it’s just starting to melt out leaving gorgeous blue puddles of melt water. After descending back to our campsite Jesse cooked up some delicious dinner that he had dehydrated at home along with some mushrooms he had foraged. It’s always nice to camp with people who are awesome chefs! Post dinner, Kelly and I decided we hadn’t had enough mileage for the day and we hiked up to Stuart Pass for some twilight photography.

Bivy, meet Mount Stewart

Jesse cuts up a foraged puffball for dinner

View from my bivy

The next morning we didn’t get up until 10am. I guess we were a little exhausted! This was a special treat for me considering Jack wakes me up at home at ~6am every morning. Sleeping in my bivy made the night even more special as whenever I woke up I had an amazing view right there without a tent over me. After a leisurely breakfast we were back on the trail headed towards Ingalls Lake. This time we stuck to the official trail–which was more of a goat path than a trail. Again cairns led the way, although this time they were harder to discern. The fork towards Ingalls Lake was especially hard to find and again our GPS was super helpful to avoid going back to Stuart Pass where Kelly and I had taken photos the night before.

Those goats know how to route a trail!

Once back at Ingalls Lake we started climbing up the rocks thinking they would lead us around the lake while avoiding the steep, snowy slopes around the lake. We were also following someone else’s footprints so we figured they knew where they were going! But we soon found ourselves cliffed out without a good way to get down. Perhaps we could’ve scrambled down a crack, but with our packs on it would’ve been dangerous. So we backtracked down to the lake and made our way around.

Meltwater on the lake

Great view, but how do we get down?

By this point the sun had heated up the snow and we were kicking off some pinwheels which was making me nervous about causing a wet loose avalanche. Sliding uncontrollably into a half-thawed alpine lake did not sound like a good way to start my week in Washington! Moving quickly, we soon found ourselves against another rock band where I realized that I was standing on top of a snow bridge. I transitioned onto the rock between the snow and warned Jesse and Kelly so that no one would plunge through. It wasn’t that big of a snow bridge so we probably would’ve been fine, but why risk it? After bypassing the snow bridge there was one last section of exposed snow to navigate before back on solid, safe ground so we moved quickly. Now at the other end of the lake we checked our map again and realized we had to descend a good ways to get back to the main trail.

Teamwork was utilized to bypass the snow bridge!

Glad to have all that behind us

More goats!

We had two options for the way back to the trailhead from the lake. There’s a higher trail that adds a third of a mile more of distance and a lower trail that’s more direct but dips down in elevation and then rises again. Thinking that we’d had enough snow shenanigans for a day we took the lower route. For the first couple hundred feet we were following someone else’s footsteps but suddenly they ended and the trail was hard to discern through the snow. Turns out everyone else has been taking the high trail! We bushwacked through snowy terrain and attempted to follow the general course of the route via our GPS and eventually ended up at the base of a moderately steep, snowy incline. After ascending this last snow slope we were at the top of Ingalls Pass and again Mount Rainier dominated the skyline.

Never get sick of seeing that mountain

The way down from the pass was rather uneventful. We passed a lot of people which felt strange considering how few people we saw throughout the morning and the day before. Most of the people we passed were just wearing tennis shoes which made me wonder how cold their feet were going to be going across all of that snow! I felt the Longs Pass trail was a lot more secure than the Ingalls Lake trail, too. There were frequent sections where the trail was narrowly perched on a rocky slope. After a misstep made me slide down the slope a bit I decided I should be paying more attention to my feet than my camera.

An example of why you should pay attention to where you’re walking

Back at the trailhead we found twice as many cars than had been there when we left the day before. After packing up the car we headed to Cle Elum for some delicious Mexican food at Los Cabos!

Thanks adventure friends!

This hike is definitely near the top of my list of all time favorite hikes. I can’t wait to bring Maura and Jack on it. The solitude we experienced was a pleasant surprise especially after seeing trip reports about the hordes in the Enchantments just on the other side of Dragontail Peak from us. If you do this loop be sure to bring a good map along to help you find your way since the trail disappears frequently.

View more photos on our Facebook page

Rock Creek Campground

Our plan was to leave Seattle at 4pm Friday and sleep at Alpine Meadows campground just a few miles before the Phelps Creek trailhead. Unfortunately, our weekend got off to a slow start. Traffic bogged us down and resulted in what should’ve been a 3.5 hour drive becoming a 7 hour crawl. In the darkness we traveled along the Chiwawa River Road  to find that all of the campground signs had been taken down for the winter. Since we didn’t know which campground was which we pulled over at the first one with an appealing spot. Fortunately for us we ended up spending the night at Rock Creek Campground and we had the whole place to ourselves. In the summer I can imagine it not being the greatest campsite since there is no privacy between sites and the ground is covered with blasted clay pigeons – but here in the lonely, foggy fall it was quite wonderful. The three of us set up our enormous REI Kingdom 4 in the light rain. It was the tent’s second ever use and I was impressed with how fast we were able to set it up in the dark. We crawled in with our two dogs and called it a night.

Latigo carries his own food

The forecast for the trailhead on Saturday called for a 50% chance of light rain until 11am and then partly cloudy skies. I had been checking the forecast religiously all week to make sure we weren’t just going to spend the entire weekend in the rain. It rained all night which made getting out of the tent into the damp air difficult in the morning. As we ate our breakfasts and struck camp the rain continued to fall and we kept watching the time waiting for 11am to roll around and for the rain to suddenly stop. After throwing the wet tent into the topper on our truck we headed up the road to the trailhead.

Jesse prepping at the trailhead

There was a bit of time to kill before the 11am rain stop so we made a quick tour to the nearby Trinity Trailhead. Trinity is a former mining town with some buildings remaining so we were hoping to be able to see a bit of a ghost town. Unbeknownst to us, the town is privately owned so we weren’t able to visit it. We turned around and finished the final very rough miles to the trailhead for our hike and were astonished by the number of cars at the trailhead. The hiking guides online all discussed how popular this hike was but we figured no one else was silly enough to do it on a rainy weekend in mid-October. By the time we returned on Sunday the trailhead was overflowing and people were parking along the road.

First trail junction – turn off to Carne Mountain

The Phelps Creek trail to Phelps Basin is relatively straightforward. You just follow the trail along the creek until Spider Meadow at 6 miles – head through the meadow and then take a right at the fork signed for Phelps Basin. Along the way you’ll pass a couple of other trails that branch off and lead to various alpine destinations as well as a few creeks. The first junction is to Carne Mountain. This was one of the hikes we had considered doing for the weekend but decided against due to the cloud cover. As we hiked through the rain and the 11am rain deadline passed we were quite proud of our decision to stick with the meadows and basin.

Trail to Carne Mountain climbs up to the right. Phelps Creek continues straight.

At 2.6 miles you enter the Glacier Peak Wilderness. This was my first time in this particular wilderness. Entering a new wilderness area is always exciting for me! I was bummed I didn’t get to share it with Maura and Jack.

Enter Glacier Peak Wilderness at 2.6 miles

As we continued along the trail gently climbs and rambles amongst the trees. It skirts close to the creek and at times rises high above it and then moments later the creek is right next to you again. Shrouded in the fog we couldn’t see much of the neighboring Phelps Ridge but every once in a while a little pocket would open in the clouds giving us a window into the towering cliffs.

Forest hiking

We were all getting hungry but I knew we were close to Spider Meadow. When I’m hiking Maura always needs to remind me to eat otherwise I push myself to exhaustion because I want to get to our destination. Without her there to balance me we all went further into hunger than we wanted to. Luckily, Marie encouraged us to take a break and we stopped on the trailside to eat some food. Once we were back on the trail we were much more energized and we came upon Spider Meadow shortly thereafter along with a break in the clouds!

Beautiful Spider Meadow

Spider Meadow took our breath away. Waterfalls cascaded down the surrounding peaks towering over the glacially carved valley. The moody clouds made the scene even more epic as we hiked through towards Phelps Basin. We passed a number of campsites as well as a toilet. There’s a nice sign at the head of the meadow explaining where all of the nearby campsites and facilities are. There are also a number of stock campsites that keep the horses away from the backpackers.

A stream rolling down the mountain

After passing through the flat meadow the trail begins to climb steeper than it had for the first 6 miles but it still wasn’t too steep. We passed through a grove of trees and then crossed Phelps Creek. This was our trickiest creek crossing but with some careful balance we all crossed through it dry.

Marie crossing Phelps Creek

After crossing the creek, the trail headed up to a Y. Going left takes you to Spider Gap whereas going right takes you to Phelps Basin. We headed right and after a short half mile we were in the center of the basin with our jaws dropped. I was giddy with excitement over the beautiful place we were going to spend the night. Plus we were the only people in the basin so we had our pick of campsites. We picked a nice spot big enough for our tents with a nice cooking area on a pair of large boulders and set up camp.

Perfect timing for the sky to begin to clear up!

Latigo participated in his favorite activity – stick eating.

Marie and Beth soaking up the blue sky and beautiful views

After we got our tents set up a couple came walking up the trail and set up camp at one of the other camp sites. Funny enough, they came over to say hi and warn us that they’d be crossing through early in the morning on their way to climb Dumbell Mountain and it turns out Marie knew one of them through work!

After camp was set up, Jesse and I headed up the basin to do some exploring. We had originally wanted to climb to Spider Gap to try and get a glimpse of Glacier Peak or of Lyman Glacier but it was too late in the day for that. On my topo I reasoned that we could find a route through Phelps Basin and connect to Spider Gap directly so we headed across the sprawling meadows to see how far we could get before dark.

Heading up the basin with Jesse. Our objective was the base below that pointy summit and to then cut to the left.

On the way up we passed beautiful fall colors and some tiny yellow larches. As we got closer to the cliffs that lined the basin the ground got steeper and we entered a huge talus field. Route finding was quite interesting and we navigated between some loose talus that would send rocks flying down the mountain-side. We quickly learned the areas to avoid and eventually found ourselves at the base of some cliffs. I had brought Latigo along and he had done well but I eventually had to call it a day since it got too steep for him. Jesse went up a bit higher to get a peek of what was to come. Our conclusion is that there’s definitely a route to Spider Gap this way. It would require a little bit of scrambling but nothing too bad (as long as you’re not a dog). The sun was beginning to set so we headed back down taking copious amounts of pictures on our way.

Waterfall we passed on the way up the basin

The sun hit Dumbell Mountain at the perfect angle

We ascended the talus to the right of the photo

Jesse found this interesting rock with sharp minerals embedded in it in the talus field.

Latigo and I turned around here. Not pictured is a decent sized drop-off to the left of Jesse.

Jesse is the blue dot in the picture

Looking down Phelps Basin from the head of the basin

Latigo with his first Larch tree

Reunited with Marie at our campsite we ate dinner in the dark and watched the stars emerge as the clouds dissipated. All of the constellations were out and the Milky Way was streaming across the sky. We all crawled into our mummy bags and tried our best to stay warm through the night. We were all pretty soaked from the nonstop rain during the day but I was comfortable enough and thankful for the extra dry clothes I had lugged along.

Stars over Phelps Basin

Our thousand star hotel

Since I had to pick up Maura at the airport the next day we all had to get up early Sunday. It’s never easy to wake up while it’s still dark out – especially when you’re warm and toasty in your sleeping bag! We packed up as quickly as we could and headed back down the trail. Sorry Jesse and Marie for rushing us out of there so fast!

Great friends and a great backpacking trip!

As we hurried back to the trailhead I made a stupid mistake. We were all hiking at our own paces and we would stop every so often to regroup. I was in front and marched right past the trail junction to Leroy Creek. Instead of waiting for everyone to meet up I crossed Leroy Creek and pushed on about another mile. Eventually Jesse and I stopped and waited by the Glacier Peak Wilderness sign. After a few minutes Marie hadn’t shown up yet and I started to get worried. Usually she was right behind us. I took off my pack and told Jesse I would run up the trail to find her to make sure everything was okay. As I headed up the trail I got more and more concerned around each bend that she didn’t appear. Running faster now I started shouting her name and getting pretty freaked out. I couldn’t believe we left her behind like that. Finally I saw her and I was so relieved. She had gotten to the trail junction by the creek and wasn’t sure which way to go. After she headed down the trail for a half mile and didn’t see us she figured she had gone the wrong way. Luckily it all worked out in the end and we found each other but it was a stressful 30 minutes that could’ve been easily avoided by sticking together. Lesson learned. Sorry again, Marie!

I believe this is Box Creek. It’s one of the last creek crossings on the way back.

We headed back to Seattle and got to the airport right in time to meet Maura as she got off her plane. Thanks to Marie and Jesse for adventuring and sharing such a wonderful place with me. If you haven’t been to Phelps Basin start planning a trip now! And do better than us and spend more time there!

I chose Snowy Lakes because of the Moderate rating it was given in the book. We were looking for a fun weekend that wasn’t too challenging and this hike seemed to fit the bill perfectly. At 20.2 miles and only 3550 feet in elevation gain we knew we would be challenged but could also spend plenty of time relaxing. Not to mention that this hike is along an incredibly well maintained stock-grade trail that makes the elevation gain easier because of the steady incline we would be welcomed with.

We set off Friday afternoon and began the long drive (around 4 hours) to the trailhead. We stopped in Marblemount, the last town for 70 miles before entering the North Cascades Scenic Byway. There is an old caboose next to one of two gas stations in the town that has been turned into a BBQ joint. We have been wanting to stop there since our first trip, but it is only open seasonally and this was the first opportunity we’ve had to eat there! We entered the caboose and were warmly greeted by the woman running the place all by herself. We ordered and went back outside to the picnic table we had tied Latigo up to before going in. After a very short wait she delivered our food to us outside and had even brought Latigo a plate of burned brisket to enjoy. We don’t usually feed Latigo people food but I couldn’t turn her down after such a generous gesture. Latigo definitely ate very well that night! We supped on the delicious BBQ and were amazed by the quality, it was truly delicious!

Waiting for our BBQ!

Latigo thoroughly enjoyed his BBQ!

Seriously delicious! If in Marblemount, stop in!

We continued onward and were soon driving along our favorite section of the North Cascades Scenic Byway as the incredibly beautiful North Cascades flew by around us! The drive along this road proved to be pretty adventurous! We passed numerous spots where rockslides had had the highway shut down for a few days a couple of weeks ago, we drove through smoke as we crossed Ross Lake from a nearby small forest fire, we saw several deer along the side of the road, and were doing our best to let those who felt the need to drive at scary speeds along these curvy mountain roads pass us safely, all this while the sun slowly set around us.

By the time we reached the trailhead at Rainy Pass it was dark. There were three tents set up in a small flat area near the trailhead but there wasn’t much room for an additional tent. According to the guidebook the first campsite along the trail wasn’t until 4.5 miles in. It was just about 9:00 p.m. and it was chilly. We didn’t fancy hiking in the dark on an unknown trail with no guarantee that the campsites would be empty and available to us. We decided to sleep in the back of the Explorer for the night. We laid down the seats, inflated our sleeping pads, rolled out the sleeping bags and settled in for what would be a pretty poor night’s sleep. It was cold, colder then expected and nobody slept well. I was up at 5:00 a.m. and was ready to go. I tried my best to keep sleeping but it didn’t work. at 5:30 I got everybody up and we decided to hit the trail.

We munched on chocolate waxy doughnuts as we packed up our gear and made ourselves ready for the trail.

Rolling up sleeping pads!

We decided to start hiking and that we would stop after a ways and cook some hot breakfast for ourselves along the trail. As we set out, the temperature was in the low 40s and the glow of dawn was all around us.

Lets Go!

The first section of the trail is in the forest with rare and fantastical glimpses of the mountain ranges around us. After less than a mile we crossed over a spur of Granite Creek and Latigo greedily drank from the cold waters. About a half mile further up the trail we came to a spectacular viewpoint that proved to be a perfect place to stop and cook up some oatmeal. We sat on an outcropping of rocks and ate the warm meal while watching the sun’s light continue to creep in from the east and shine down upon the mountain ranges in front of us.

Everybody was ready for some breakfast!

We continued the steady climb up. The trailhead is located at 4800 feet and our highpoint of the day would be at 6900 feet. Because of our early start we had this portion of the trail all to ourselves. It was rather pleasant!

After 4.5 miles we reached the first campsites along the trail and found that they were indeed completely occupied. A ranger was there chatting with the campers about how important it is to camp at least 90 paces away from Snowy Lakes, which was their destination for the day. From the campsite the long steady switchbacks up the mountainside that would eventually lead us to Cutthroat pass began. We passed a few people along this section of the trail, all of whom were going down. This trail is a section of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and we were assuming that most of the people that we passed were PCT hikers.

We stopped often for water and snack breaks along this portion of the trail despite Bobby’s anxious excitement to reach the acme of the pass.

Enjoying some homemade granola bars!

It was chilly that morning, only 49.7 degrees according to our watch!

Up up up we go on the switchbacks!

The views were getting progressively better the higher we went!

We passed a family of four who had camped just below the pass and were enjoying their morning cocoa while trying to warm up. The two young girls pet Latigo eagerly, which he enjoyed almost as much, if not more, than they did. The parents told us that they had come up early Friday and had had the pass to themselves. They said they hadn’t seen anybody until late last night when two guys came and camped near them. The two guys had already left to continue their hike to Snowy Lakes. They said they thought we were smart getting such an early start because campsites at the lakes would probably be difficult to come by later in the day as more and more hikers arrived. We bid them farewell and continued onward and upward!

We arrived at Cutthroat Pass (elevation 6800 feet) after 5 miles and were rewarded with some incredible mountain views.

Trail junction for Cutthroat Lake located down in the valley below. We continued along Pacific Crest Trail 2000

From here we walked along a ridge line making this section of the trail very easy and amazingly beautiful! At this point we were above the tree line and could clearly see the trail ahead of us.

The trail we were headed for is just visible along the mountainside on the right.

Lots of rocks on the trail!

Around each bend we were awarded more stunning and glorious views of this incredible section of the Cascade Mountain Range.  Along this section of the trail we passed two guys who were also headed to Snowy Lakes for the night. We soon began to feel like we were almost in a race. We were worried the campsites would all be gone and I didn’t like feeling like I couldn’t stop and take a break for fear I would slow us down too much and we would have to make do with a less than desirable campsite.

The next section of the trail was pretty steep switchbacks going down. We were soon at Granite Pass (elevation 6300 feet) that had a few campsites scattered around.

We stopped for a quick snack and continued on, hoping to push through the final 3-4 miles and make it to the camping area before lunch.

Homemade blueberry/banana fruit leather!

We passed another family of four along the trail and their beautiful Golden Retriever/Terrier mix dog who was one of the most well behaved dogs I have ever seen. In the guidebook Romano warns about this section of trail saying, “Occasional rock slides and gullies need to be crossed which may rattle some hikers’ nerves.” This description had me nervous before we had even set off on the trail. I am a pretty big wuss when it comes to steep, slippery, rocky slopes and I had already warned Bobby that I might have a panic attack on this portion of the trail and would need to be gently coaxed across. How wrong I was! While it was a little dicy at times, the trail never induced any panic in me. The trail is so established and well used that I wasn’t nearly as scared as I expected to be.

Scary sections of the trail weren’t as bad as I was expecting!

Somewhat scary section of trail, but not as intimidating as we expected!

One small rockslide did have to be crossed, but it wasn’t too bad!

The trail junction for the small spur trail that leads to Snowy Lakes is unmarked. There is a large camping area near the junction and it is just after passing an old and blocked off trail. Exctiement leaped inside of me when I saw it! I knew we only had 1/2 a mile to go before reaching the lower lake! Bobby gave me that bad news that while we didn’t have far to go this was the most difficult part of the trail. We had to gain 500+ feet of elevation. Definitley not what I was in the mood for! We trudged on. I was soon far behind Bobby and Latigo, huffing and puffing my way up. I needed a break. A muscle in my right leg was giving me trouble and I just wanted to sit for awhile. Other hikers were hot on our tail and I could tell that Bobby wanted to do anything BUT take a break. I told him to go on ahead without me. That way I could go at my own pace and not worry about slowing him down and making him more nervous about finding a site.

After sitting and snacking for awhile I continued on at a much slower and more manageable pace. I played leapfrog with a duo of hikers and we remarked on how difficult this section of trail was. I finally made it to the lower lake and Bobby was nowhere in sight. He was wearing a bright yellow shirt and we were at the top of the tree line so this was a little unbelievable. But, I figured, knowing him, he would venture onwards to the upper lake and get the whole lay of the land before settling on a campsite. I continued onward, going at a very slow pace and constantly looking around me hoping to catch a glimpse of his bright shirt but I couldn’t see him. I came to the upper lake and was once again disappointed that I couldn’t see him anywhere. I continued on and found the highest campsite above upper lake and the end of the trail. Still no Bobby. We were the first ones to arrive at the lakes. They were completely deserted. I threw my back down at a great campsite with excellent views and began roaming around looking for Bobby and Latigo. The two hikers I had been leapfrogging with on the climb up passed me and I asked if they had seen Bobby, they hadn’t… I began to get a little nervous wondering if I would ever find him. I decided it would be best to stay put, I figured he was probably roaming around looking for me and that I should just sit and wait for him to find me. I decided to wait on a small ridge located between the two lakes hoping I would have the best viewpoint to see and be seen from both directions. As I made my way to the ridge I was constantly stopping, listening, and looking all around. I whistled my special Latigo whistle hoping that he, at least, could hear me, but to no avail. As I reached the ridge I saw him there below me by the lower lake with Latigo in tow. I waved my arms hoping he would see me. He did and he came to meet me. He pulled me into a bear hug. He was terrified.

Apparently he had chosen the first campsite he could find near the lower lake thinking I wouldn’t want to keep going to the upper lake because of my sore leg. He had thrown his stuff down and then run back down to the rock he had left me resting on thinking he would carry my pack back up for me (what a guy!). Only he hadn’t used the trail, hoping to get down to me faster he had stuck to a vein of rock, effectively missing me on the trail as I went up. When he had reached the abandoned rock he had panicked fearing that my sore leg had gotten worse and that, for some reason, I had left and gone back down with the two hikers who we knew were behind us. It was odd, he was surprisingly more scared then I was by the situation and we had both thought like the other person effectively making it impossible for us to successfully meet up!

I brought Bobby to the campsite I had found and he proclaimed that it was far superior to the one he had found at the lower lake. He returned to the other site to retrieve his pack with my promise that I wouldn’t leave the site while he was gone. He returned and I began preparing lunch, fajitas, while he set up our rainfly and groundcloth as a sun shade for us to take an afternoon nap in. The sun was beating harshly down on us and despite numerous sunscreen applications we could both feel ourselves burning. There was an occasional slight breeze that did provide a little bit of relief from time to time but on the whole it was really really hot.

There were some great sittin’ rocks in our campsite!

Waiting for lunch to be ready!

We sure do love our Jetboil stove!

Not a bad place to spend a Saturday afternoon!

After a delicious lunch we settled in for a nap but the sun shade proved ineffective and became more of a sauna… It was soon degrees warmer inside than out despite having the doors open and the breeze going through. We went down to the lake to dip our toes in and to let Latigo swim a little bit so that he could cool off.

There was a neat rock island just off the shore of the lake!

wet dog.

Bees and biting flies buzzed around the whole area making an unpleasantly obnoxious buzz sound that was driving me bonkers. Hiker after hiker streamed in throughout the afternoon and the area was soon packed with people. Because we were so near the tree line there wasn’t much in the way of screening between sites and sound carried eerily far so there was no privacy to be had in this area.

We ate dinner, homemade dehydrated Spicy Chicken Pasta, that ended up being pretty bland despite the recipes promise of “Spicy” and the rehydrating instructions had us add far too much water, effectively making it more of a pasta soup than pasta. Despite it’s drawbacks it was filling and sated our roaring backpack-inducing hunger.

Somewhat flavorless homemade dehydrated spicy chicken pasta soup…

We settled in on a nearby rocky ridge to watch the sunset behind the beautiful mountains.

So happy to be married to such an incredible husband!

We made our camp ready and snuggled in for what we anticipated would be a very cold night.

We had met a few hikers along the trail who had camped there the previous night and had warned us about how cold it would get. With that in mind we donned all of our clothes and zipped up our mummy bags. I fell almost instantly into a deep sleep at 8:45 and Bobby also slept like the dead. Our early bedtime meant that we awoke very early the next morning 5:30 and I was ready to go. Bobby, while awake, wasn’t keen on getting out of his cozy sleeping bag. I assured him that it wasn’t nearly as cold as we had feared it would be but to no avail. Finally I began describing the beautiful early morning aura the mountains had and the sliver of moon that was visible just above a nearby mountain and that finally got him interested enough to get up and snap a few pictures.

Bobby went to refill our dromedary bags while I took down camp. We munched on cereal bars and applesauce as we made ready for the days hike out. We had decided the previous evening that because of the heat, the bees, and the overcrowdedness of the area we wouldn’t spend a day lounging about our campsite like we had originally planned. We concluded that we would instead head out and make for the nearby town of Winthrop (about 30 miles away) for a day of fun and possibly look for a hotel for the night. We had visited Winthrop last year over labor day weekend and I had fallen in love with it. It’s an old west themed town and makes for a fun afternoon of popping in and out of the little shops and selecting one of a handful of restaurants to enjoy a meal at. Plus there’s always a rodeo in town over Labor Day weekend!

The hike out went smoothly and, because of our early start, we had the trail pretty much to ourselves for the first couple of hours.

Just before reaching Cutthroat Pass there is a grouping of large boulders alongside the trail. We had been planning on stopping at the pass and having an early lunch/late breakfast but Bobby wanted to do a little bouldering and who am I to argue with him when he wants to stop sooner then expected?!? We ate chicken salad wraps and sat in the welcome shade of the boulders!

The standoff… Will I give in and give him a bite? I did.

After we had reached Cutthroat pass and began the long trek down the numerous switchbacks that led back into the forested, and less scenic, section of the trail we began seeing dozens of day hikers. We helped one couple who had asked us how long the loop was. What loop? was our response. They had, unknowingly taken the wrong trail and weren’t at all where they thought they should be. We showed them on our map where they were, what they were headed to, and where they thought they were. They gratefully thanked us for helping them and we left them discussing whether they should turn back and make for the trail they had originally planned on doing or if they should continue along and go up to Cutthroat Pass.

We were back at the car just after 11:00. Because of our early lunch/late breakfast on the trail at 10:00, we decided we would make the 40 min drive to Winthrop and find lunch there. We changed into less smelly clothes and hoped a fresh layer of deodorant and baseball caps would help disguise the fact that we hadn’t showered in 3+ days…

We stopped at Washington Pass along the way for some pics of Liberty Bell and other mountains in the area at a lookout before continuing along the scary winding mountain road eventually landing to Winthrop.

The mountain in the background is Liberty Bell

Last year when we arrived in Winthrop we were only able to find parking about 1/4 of a mile outside of town in a public parking area. This year, we approached the main intersection of the town just as somebody was pulling out of an amazing spot right on the street. We snatched it up!

The town was bustling with excitement! None of the restaurants have patios where we would be able to eat with Latigo so we decided to get hotdogs, curly fries, sodas, and ice-cream from a place that is all outdoors. It was hot, in the low 90s! Families were eagerly waiting in the long line for ice cream to try and cool down! Latigo lay under the table, enjoying the shade, and the people watching while we ate.

I walked over to the information building to see if they knew of any available lodging nearby. She told me nothing was available because of the busy holiday weekend and because of the Rodeo. We decided it would be best to simply head home after wandering around the little town for awhile. The nice thing about leaving on Sunday was we barely had any traffic coming back into Seattle, which we knew wouldn’t be the case on Monday!

Overall the Snowy Lakes trail offers a steady and easy incline on the trail that makes this hike much easier than your average hike. It offers some spectacular views. The only downside is that the hike out gets a little long and boring during the four miles in the forested area.

So much more compact than car camping!

It was a two hour drive to the trailhead and we stopped for a quick dinner along the way. We arrived at the trailhead around 7:30, laced up our backpacking boots, shouldered our packs, slipped Latigo’s backpack on, and hit the trail.

The trailhead had space for 4-5 cars

Sunset was just before 9:00 p.m. but we only had to hike two miles in to George Lake where we would be camping for the night. The trail was wooded and had a steep incline.

Up we go!

Latigo was very excited to be on the trail!

We huffed and puffed our way into a meadow clearing about 1.5 miles in and were awarded with spectacular views of Mount Rainier. The approaching dusk gave the mountains a magical glow that took our breath away.

Emerging from the woods and into the meadow

Our first glimpses of Mount Rainier

The sun was beginning to set as we reached the meadow

We thought this was Noble Knob… We were wrong.

The wildflowers were in fine form atop this clearing.

In the meadow we came to a trail junction and turned left to head down to George Lake the trail was steeply declined and slightly rocky. Latigo, sensing the nearby body of water sprinted ahead. We called, in vain, for him to return to us. He had his backpack on and we were concerned that his food would get wet. But, there was no stopping him from wading in and getting a much deserved drink. He came running back and we were able to slip his backpack off and he submerged himself in the frigid waters of George Lake.

Latigo swimming in George Lake

We passed several unoccupied campsites as we continued our descent to the lake shore where there was a site on a small peninsula jutting out into the blue/green waters.

The peninsula where we camped for the night

Happy to be at such a majestic campsite

View from the site

The ground wasn’t all that level and it was dusty, but who could say no to such picture perfect surroundings, so we made camp.

Now this is camping!

While this site felt incredibly remote, there was a constant reminder of the outside world, airplanes continually flew low overhead. Aside from that, the site couldn’t have been any more amazing. We built a small fire in the makeshift fire ring before settling in for the night.

tiny fire for a tiny fire ring

We aren’t used to camping out in the open so much and were surprised at how windy it was. The rainfly of the tent flapped in the wind making noises that sounded eerily like people and/or animals approaching our site. It took awhile to get used to the noises before finally falling into a fitful sleep.

We arose early the next morning, the incline of the site made for an uneasy sleep and the excitement at the day’s hike ahead of us had us rising much earlier than normal. It was just before 6:00 a.m. We heated water in our Jetboil stove to make the scrambled egg, ham, and veggie freeze-dried breakfast we had. We wrapped the warm ingredients inside tortillas and savored the warmth of the meal as we watched the mountains around us.

Our slightly tilted campsite!

Beautiful morning the Cascades!

We packed camp and were on the trail just after 7:00 a.m. We had 9.8 miles to do that day and were eager to get going.

Day 2!

Leaving our campsite

We thought we could see a trail between two peaks near our camp that would allow us to skip backtracking out of the site and back to the trail we had left the previous day. Turns out this “trail” we had spotted was nothing more than a not so well used deer trail that turned into a drainage area. The terrain was steep and slippery but we made it up and could see the trail before us and joined it. Our first destination of the day was Noble Knob where spectacular views would be in good supply. The previous evening we believed we could see Noble Knob from our site and that was where we headed. We wouldn’t discover until the next day that what we had thought was Noble Knob wasn’t it at all… We were at 5381 feet and it still offered incredible views and we had a great time climbing around on the rocks at the peak.

The moon was out throughout most of the trip!

View of George Lake and our campsite from above!

We headed down the side trail that led back to the main trail we would be taking for the first 5 miles of the day, Trail #1185.

Back on the trail

We went down for a very long time today, leaving the incredible views behind and trading them in for old forests with crystal clear, blue/green lakes. We came upon Lost Lake first and were wowed by the beauty of the area. There are a couple of campsites around this lake and a few campers were scattered around the lake. Other trip reports mentioned how bad the bugs were around Lost Lake, but we didn’t experience particularly bad bugs as we stopped for a quick rest and a snack here before continuing on.

snack break at Lost Lake

Lost Lake

Quinn Lake was the next lake we came upon, smaller and more secluded than Lost Lake, a few campsites are also located here but nobody was camped here. The beautiful waters, upon closer inspection were completely covered with bugs, possibly why nobody was camped here.

Quinn Lake

We came to our first trail junction after 5 miles and were now at 3000 feet. We took the right fork at the junction to head southeast on trail #1176 for 2.5 miles.

First Trail Junction of the day!

From this point on we saw many more hikers than we had during our first section on the trail. Trail #1176 is also known as the Greenwater Trail and is a popular trail for day hikers and backpackers alike. It’s trailhead is located 3.1 miles from the junction we turned at. Shortly after the trail junction we came upon a river crossing with a campsite and stopped for a snack and a break.

bridges and/or logs allowed easy passage over the many stream and river crossings we encountered.

We met up with two day hikers who were training to do the loop we were doing. We continued on and stopped at the next trail junction (3500 feet) for lunch. At this junction we took the right fork to continue along the Greenwater trail. The left fork is trail #1186 that connects with the Pacific Crest Trail 5 miles away. We had 1.8 miles left in our day until we reached Echo Lake, where we would be camping for the night.

Echo Lake

Echo Lake’s (elevation 3900 feet) clear blue waters shimmered through the trees like a welcoming beacon as we finished off our long day on the trail. Many other backpackers had passed us throughout the day, and a day hiker informed us that the campsites looked pretty full around the lake. Hopefully we would be able to find a site. The lake was busy with many groups camping along it’s shores. We found one open site after 30 minutes of looking but it wasn’t great. We would’ve been sandwiched in between two other groups, one of which was comprised of smokers. I stayed in the site to claim it in case we were unable to find another site and Bobby set off around the lake in search of a more desirable site. He was gone almost 45 minutes and came back with reports of three open sites along the other side of the lake that were much better, and more private. Many of the sites around Echo Lake are located directly on the trail, so there isn’t much in the way of privacy. We hiked the 15 minutes to the other site and were glad we did. This site was located just far enough off the trail that we could hear other hikers pass but they weren’t tromping through our site. We did have several fishermen come through looking for a good spot to fish. The site didn’t have water access exactly… If you climbed over several downed, large trees and followed a short social trail you were at the waters edge.

Our campsite for the night

Latigo trying to hide from the bugs under Bobby’s legs.

We had hoped to swim to cool off after a long day on the trail but the muck on the side of the lake was pretty gross to wade through and the water was freezing! We soaked our tired feet until they went numb from the cold and then headed back to our site. We needed water, the long hot day on the trail had us draining our dromedary bags. We hiked to the stream located about 1/4 of a mile away in our campsite flip-flops to filter some water. We returned to the site and set up the tent and climbed in to escape the bugs and enjoy a brief afternoon nap.

Afternoon nap in the tent

Not a bad view!

This is clearly a popular spot for camping, as we napped more backpackers entered our site in the hopes of finding an open site. There are several pit toilets located around the lake, we saw three, that keep the hot spot for camping cleaner than we expected. Just be sure to bring your own teepee! Many of the campsites had nice sized logs around the fire rings for sitting which was really nice and the fire rings were pretty clean. Overall this is a great spot for camping as long as you don’t mind having people walk through your site with some regularity.

After our nap, we gathered firewood and started a fire. The bugs here were pretty intense and I was glad I had brought along our newly purchased bottle of bug repellent. If only we could spray it on poor Latigo who is so bothered by the bugs. All he wanted to do was continue to sleep after his big day on the trail but the bugs wouldn’t give him a moments rest. We decided to see how he would handle having the rainfly from the tent draped over him like a blanket to protect him from the nasty bites. He welcomed the drape gladly and slept soundly for over an hour as we tended to the fire and looked over our Green Trails Map #239 to see what the following days hike would be like.

Finally protected from the bugs!

We heated up water for dinner, freeze-dried chicken teriyaki with rice that we wrapped in what remained of our tortillas. We fed and watered Latigo, put our bear canister a ways away from our tent and crawled into our sleeping bags. It was only 8:00 and still light out. We decided to risk using the battery on my iPhone and read aloud from a book we’ve been reading aloud together during the camping trips we’ve taken thus far this year. We read until our eyes couldn’t stay open any longer and fell into a much more sound sleep than the previous evening. We had discussed trying to get on the trail early the following morning.

I awoke at 5:00 but it was too early I fell back to sleep and awoke 1/2 an hour later but Bobby was still sleeping peacefully. I decided to wait another 1/2 an hour before getting up. It was chilly, so I called Latigo up from the bottom of the tent to sleep in-between Bobby and I for the additional warmth. He rested his head on my stomach and warmed me up as he softly snored for the next 1/2 hour. We arose a little after 6:00 and were sort of excited and sort of dreading the 9.2 miles we had to do that day. We were sore from the previous day and also knew that we would have to ascend close to 2000 feet in elevation that day. We supped on cold granola and blueberries before hitting the trail. We had used a lot water the previous evening and my dromedary bag wasn’t as full as I would’ve like for a 9+ mile day on the trail so we stopped at the stream on our way back to the trail and refilled my bag. Thankfully, the group camping next to the stream was already up and we didn’t have to worry about being quiet. We hit the trail and were soon huffing and puffing as we began our first 3 miles, continuing along the Greenwater Trail. In those first 3 miles we gained 1200 feet of elevation gain and our calves were feeling the strain. We commented on how we were grateful to be doing the uphill portions of the trail on our last day when our packs were at their lightest, seeing as we had eaten the majority of our food. For me, it was a little rough because I was having a hungry day and no matter how many snacks I consumed it wouldn’t sate the rumblings of my tummy. This made me somewhat more crabby than usual while backpacking and poor Bobby had to suffer the consequences. That first three miles felt like it took an eternity and when we finally reached our first trail junction of the day it was with a great sigh of relief. We took the right fork  for 1.1 miles into the Corral Pass Campground. We arrived to the closed camping area and took the abandoned area as a sign that we needed a break.

The trail we took into Corral Pass

There was a pit toilet that was a welcome site after two days without that much privacy.

Yay for a pit toilet that was clean!

I lazed on a picnic table and we both used the water trough, meant to water the horses that could camp here, to rinse our faces of the two day trail grime that had built up. While Latigo used the trough just as the horses would!

We continued along Forest Road #7174 for a short time, until joining up with the Noble Knob trail or Trail #1184.

Here we encountered a large group of mountain bikers. We had spent the majority of our weekend trip in the Norse Peak Wilderness, this section of trail however, was in the Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forests and the trail we were on was shared usage with Mountain Bikers and Horses.

The views along this section of trail were amazing and we were so grateful that we were lucky enough to have three perfectly clear days for this incredible hike!

This section of trail was also very mountainous. It was a skinny track on a steep incline that, at times, made me nervous. The group of mountain bikers, thankfully passed us on a section of trail that had extra space and we were able to move to one side and out of the way. We reached the next trail junction at 1.4 miles, but not before having to endure a grueling small portion of the trail that was basically vertical, haven’t they ever heard of switchbacks?!?

Hiding in the shade while Bobby snaps some pics!

The steep incline we had just come up!

We continued along for the next 1.9 miles until the trail split to either take the .4 mile spur trail up to to Noble Knob or continue on along trail. We stopped at a nearby campsite to begin lunch preparations. It was only 11:00 but we were hungry and our snack supply was running low. The lunch we had for that day was freeze-dried pasta salad with vegetables and it took 30 minutes of soaking in cold water before being eaten. We filled it with the necessary amount of water, split the last granola bar we had and continued on the trail.

This is the point of the trail that we realized we hadn’t gone to Noble Knob the previous day. We could see the large group of mountain bikers sitting atop the real Noble Knob. We had summited the slightly shorter, more rocky, peak next to it.

Noble Knob is in the foreground, we summited the peak to the right the day before.

We decided that summitting the real peak wasn’t worth it considering how tired we were, instead we made our way back to the first trail junction we had met on our first day that was about a mile away.

We met several day hikers and one group of backpackers along this portion of the trail and stopped to chat with each. They all had off leash dogs with them and we warned them of the mountain bikers ahead, we had put Latigo on leash because of them. We were soon back in the meadow we had been in on our first night and stopped to sit on a log in the shade of a tree to enjoy the lunch that had been soaking for the last 30 minutes.

Lunch!

We gobbled up the meal and took the 2 mile trail that descended steeply away from the mountains, back into the trees, and eventually back to the car.

The last section of the trail, descending back to the car

This was one of the most amazing trips we have ever done together. The views, the challenge, the beautiful wildflowers, and the pleasure of each others company made this a trip we won’t soon forget. I would highly recommend this loop to any backpacker looking for a challenge that will be rewarded with some of the most amazing views we have yet to see in the Cascades.

WE DID IT!

Noble Knob to Echo Lake to Corral Pass Loop at EveryTrail

Last day!

We awoke to unbelievably sore muscles. The short 13 hour break we had from the trail wasn’t nearly enough to rest our aching muscles. With both my feet in complete agony as I hobbled around our small room I began to doubt whether or not we would even be able to go 1 mile today, let alone the 16 we were supposed to accomplish… We made ready and went to get the breakfast being made by our charming hostess, Julia. She had taken our meal orders the night before, mine being pancakes and Bobby had opted for the omelet. We had long ago tired of the “Traditional Irish Breakfast” offered at every other B&B which we had joked with Julia about the previous evening. These pancakes weren’t at all like the thin crepes we had had at O’Grady’s Townhouse in Waterville, they were thoroughly American and delicious! Bobby was a little jealous he hadn’t ordered the same, though his omelet was also tasty and I was kind enough to share! We finished packing our bags and went to check out. We chatted with Julia a bit and she immediately inquired as to the status of my sister and her baby (I had mentioned to her the previous evening that my sister Suzy was in labor with her second baby, a boy) and I told her she had had a beautiful baby boy named Aidan. “Oh thank The Lord!” she responded saying that she had said a prayer the previous evening that all would go well. We chatted a bit more before heading out.

Walking through Kenmare on the Kerry Way

The first steps are always the hardest and today was no exception, in fact they were harder than ever. All the muscles in my legs were screaming to stop walking and sit down. We stopped at a small grocers on our way back to the trail to get some supplies for lunch and then decided we would be more clever than the Kerry Way and take a slight detour, skirting town without actually having to go through it. There’s a reason why the Kerry Way doesn’t go that way. Quite simply, it’s because you can’t. The roads that appear on both our GPS app, GAIA, and Google don’t actually exist… There was an unnecessary addition of about 1/2 mile to the day… Back on the trail and in no time at all we were already heading up and out of town. Today’s trail began on the road out of town and we remained on that road all the way up into the mountains. This was, by far, the hardest section of the trail. While road walking offers an even surface for us, it is also very boring and, therefore, makes walking all the more painful because all you have to think about is your aching body. When you are on a more challenging and rocky trail your mind is a whir concentrating on your surroundings and deciding where to step. The first 6 miles of the trail today were new and took place along the same road and up and down two steep passes, the last 10 miles were a repeat of a portion of trail we did on Day 1. At the apex of the second peak we were taking a cookie break when a large group of middle aged Americans being led by an Irish guide happened upon us. They were coming from the opposite direction and were winded from their hike up. They all apologized that they were taking away our peace and quiet. We told them not to worry that we had had the trail to ourselves for the last three days and it was a nice change of pace to encounter others along the way. The guide said that it isn’t uncommon to go for days along the Kerry Way without encountering any other walkers. We would see other couples in town, or at our B&Bs but wouldn’t see them on the trail. He said that that too was common. The pass was windy and cold and our joints were stiffening so we decided to continue along.

We headed towards the gap between the two mountains

Nearing the trail junction to Killarney

We encountered several other groups along the trail out for a day hike or a mountain bike ride. While a pleasant change of pace it did make finding an outdoor restroom difficult… Those first 6 miles took forever because it was so boring. We eventually resorted to singing silly songs and playing a game where one person would sing a portion of a song and the next person would have to think of a song that included the last word sung by the other person. While a good diversion, we found that it actually made our pace even slower than it already was. Was it the effect of the game or simply because we were pooped?!? Nobody knows…. We finally reached the sign for the turnoff to Killarney and the portion of the trail we had already done 10 days ago. We were ecstatic! We took a quick snack break and I reloaded up on some Tylenol and off we went. Knowing your trail makes a huge difference. You have markers to look forward to, you remember things that happened and people you passed, and it gives you a sense of ease knowing where you are and knowing where you are going. Our pace quickened as the known and much more interesting and intricate trail continued. We stopped for lunch by a beautiful waterfall and met two rowdy Labrador retrievers who greatly wanted our bread and yogurt.

Back to the part of the trail we walked on our first day!

Lunch at a waterfall

More lunch

Spirits were high as we summited our last peak of the day but soon we were facing a steep and painful descent and spirits began to sink with the elevation. We were at the popular Torc Waterfall, a pleasant spot for a quick day hike and photo op. Our muscles were beyond exhausted and there is something about being passed by chipper, inexperienced day hikers who look like they could run circles around you as you limp past doing everything in your power to simply not fall over. It’s very disheartening. We remembered seeing horse drawn carts both in the town center of Killarney and at Torc Waterfall and thought that maybe we could hire one to bring us the rest of the way. Not only were we exhausted beyond belief but we really wanted to catch the 3:30 train to Dublin and it was 2:30 and we had 5 miles to go. There was no way we’d get there walking and while there was another train at 5:30 we wanted to get the earliest train possible. Sadly the “Jaunting Car” as the cart was called, couldn’t take us all the way into town and it would cost us 40€ but the man offered to call us a taxi. It was an offer we couldn’t refuse. Our walk of the Kerry Way was completed! it was a little earlier than we had anticipated but we both knew it was what we needed both physically and mentally and we have no regrets!
Apparently there was a Harley Davidson convention in town (the 7th year it’s been held in Killarney) which made traffic pretty bad in town but we got to the train station with plenty of time to spare.

Jaunting cars

Waiting for our taxi to the train station!

Now we are safe in Dublin enjoying 4 star luxury in the beautiful Croke Park hotel with room service, hot baths, and a soft bed. We have one whole day in Dublin tomorrow, supposedly for sightseeing, I guess we’ll see if we have the energy, and then it’s back home the next day!

The Kerry Way Day 8 at EveryTrail

In 2013 we hiked The Kerry Way over a 10 day period (we had 2 rest days). Read all of the posts in this series:

• Travel Day to Ireland
• Day 1: Killarney to Black Valley
• Day 2: Black Valley to Blackstones
• Day 3: Blackstones to Glenbeigh
• Day 4: Cahersiveen to Waterville
• Day 5: Waterville to Caherdaniel
• Day 6: Caherdaniel to Sneem
• Day 7: Sneem to Kenmare
• Day 8: Kenmare to Killarney