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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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