Heather Lake 08-18-2018

Although I had a few exciting new longer hikes in mind, I begrudgingly chose Heather Lake today for a variety of reasons.  Why do I always underrate this hike?  It is lovely and diverse, and if you go early enough to beat the crowds it is peaceful as well.

I am loving having an Apple Watch now, as I can check my distances and elevation.  It had me at exactly 2 miles from the parking lot to where the trail diverges to go around the lake, and about a mile around the lake, for a nice total (for my short legged dogs) of 5 miles and an elevation gain of just under 1300 ft.  I don't always watch it so closely, but I was curious, and it sure came in handy when people were asking me on my way down, "how far to the lake? How much farther? Am I almost there?"  haha

The lake itself is just lovely ringed by high craggy cliffs and there was still a little tiny snow pack at the far side that the dogs had fun digging and rolling on.

I was super stoked to hear a nice chorus of pikas all around the lake, but didn't see a single one, sneaky little things.  What I did see was a marmot!  I was sure surprised.  I don't recall seeing marmots here before.  I pointed it out to a couple other hikers who seemed pretty pleased to see it.  The marmot, as is typical, couldn't be bothered with its admirers as it soaked up the morning sun.

Although there are some late summer signs on the way up - berries on the devil's club, bunchberry dogwoods are at the berry stage, and blue huckleberries ripening at the top, there were also still a nice assortment of lovely wildflowers! 

Next time I need to choose a nearer, shorter hike and find myself "forced" to choose Heather Lake I'm going to remember how worthy it is. 

Happy Trails!

Bead Lake 08-11/12-2018

Despite the smoky air, this weekend was a great weekend to go backpacking with my son, Brad!  Most of these photos (all the really good ones) he took. I drove over to Eastern WA so I could visit my Dad, brother, sister and brother-in-law as well.

The directions for this trail say to drive to the end of a dirt road.  We easily found the trail head parking, but the road continued.  Logic dictated that if the "road" had ended, what we were seeing must be "trail."  Nope!  A good lesson in paying close attention.  We wandered over to the trailhead sign, and then started up the road.  We got a mile and a half before we were sure we were on the wrong track.  If you look to the left of the trail sign, the not super visible trailhead is there going into the shade of the trees.

This lake isn't wilderness - the starting end has houses along it and a boat launch.  Despite being a sunny weekend, the people living/recreating there were not noisy and it was nice to see kayakers enjoying this beautiful expanse. 

You can make out houses on the far side of the lake

Brush along the trail is just starting to turn late summer/early autumn colors, and the lake is clear and deep.  Not being an alpine lake, it is a nice swimming temperature too.

The trail, as my sister says, undulates around the southern side of the lake. One of those undulations takes climb up and over a little ridge, but that is the only real heart-rate mover on the trail.  Most of the trail stays up above a fairly steep slope from the lake, but now and then where stream beds (most dry this time of year) joined the lake, it flattened out under larger trees, and you could often see more willow and lily pads in those areas of the lake. 

Good thing there is a bridge over this dangerous waterway.

Unfortunately wasps and hornets were a huge issue.  We got almost to the very far end of the trail and set up our camp, and one of my dogs was stung as well as myself.  I had to set my tent up fast and get the dogs in where they could be safe and relax.  But first a swim!

This was a great hike to try out some new gear on, including new hiking boots for me, as I had forgotten mine!  How do you forget to pack your hiking boots on a backpacking trip??  Brad tried out his bivy and I had a new tent, appropriately a Hornet.  I loved my tent, but will have to go out again soon as I didn't try the rain fly at all.  Both the tent and rainfly need tent stakes and once you stake the tent, there is just one left for the fly.  It was warm out anyway and I certainly didn't need it.  I was quite comfortable.

When we went to get more water to filter (used a gravity filter from Platypus that we both really like) and retrieve the beers that Brad thoughtfully brought and put in the creek to cool, we saw moose footprints.  Other than that our wildlife was restricted to the calls of ravens, a startled grouse, and stinging insects.

I would do this hike again -  it would be nice as a day hike, and there are plenty of nice peaceful campsites.  Not many people out there at all, which is nice.  I would go at a different time of year probably to avoid the wasps.

Lower Lena Lake 08-05-2018

Normally a solitary hiker, this weekend was one for company!  After the hiking at Sunrise Mt Rainier the day before, I went out to the Olympic Peninsula and joined my aunt, two cousins and cousin's daughter for the Lena Lake Hike.  They are a great bunch to hike with, and it was a really fun day!

The little one had a good eye for wildlife and found this interesting caterpillar before we even hit the trail.

Lower Lena Lake is within National Forest boundaries, so dogs are allowed, but Upper Lena is within Olympic National Park, so if you're hiking with four legged friends, stop at Lower Lena.  This hike is alternatively listed at 6 miles and 7 miles round trip depending on what book/site you are looking at.  My Applewatch had it at about 6.5.  The trail seems to climb nearly the whole hike, but not too steeply.

We saw a pair of either downy or hairy woodpeckers having a disagreement over whose tree this was.

There are a couple creek crossings, although both have bridges.  One was completely dry and the other one had a little water in it still.  It has been a pretty dry year!

When you get to Lower Lena you'll start out at a higher vantage point, and then if you keep going you'll be able to access the shore.  There were quite a few people and dogs relaxing and swimming and we all went for a nice icy dip as well.

Cedar was happy to make friends with this big bullmastiff, Chance

Luna was happy to get back to the car afterward.  I didn't realize it at the time, but she was feeling a bit under the weather.  Cedar hadn't got any sleep the night before, so he was pretty tired too!

On the way to the trail, we saw what looked like the beginnings of a forest fire.  On our way out it had grown and that night heard it was around 20 acres.  As I write this four days later it has grown to over 800 acres, and I read that it was human-caused.  They are calling it the Maple Fire.  It's incredibly sad to think of all those mossy trees and all the wildlife, as well as the dangerous job that the firefighters have to battle the blaze.  I hope it is under control soon.

Sunrise, Mt Rainier 08-04-2018

Hoping to see some wildflowers and my favorite mountain, Dave and I went headed out early without the dogs on Saturday.  We saw there was a nice short hike to a lake at the viewpoint before arriving at Sunrise and intended to go up to the visitor center, look around the meadows and then head back for the hike. 
Instead when we got into the meadows we were so absorbed by the beauty of everything that we ended up doing about 4 miles, out to Frozen Lake and then back down around Shadow Lake.  Unfortunately, we went completely unprepared - bug spray, sun screen, water, etc all left in the vehicle!  Lucky it was early and not too hot yet.

Here are the gorgeous views from the viewpoint we were going to go back to.

The wildflowers may have been past their prime, but they were still really beautiful.  Lupine, paintbrush, old man of the mountain, heather. 

We didn't see deer or marmots, but we saw some smaller wildlife.  There were butterflies, chipmunks, ground squirrels and a Clark's nutcracker.

I liked seeing the moon between these dead tree limbs, and this cool rock formation.

The Mountain was glorious!  When we left that morning the skies were completely socked in at our house and I was worried that I would not see it.

Frozen Lake is a small lake up above the visitor center that is their water source, so it is all fenced off.  I'm not sure if it is their sole water source or if it is just supplementary.

Shadow Lake was a larger prettier lake, but didn't seem to have the potential for mountain reflection.  We enjoyed the pretty lupine around it.

After we rehydrated our sunburnt selves, we ended up heading out of the park and had our lunch along the banks of the White River.  It was a great day out!