Unfortunately, due to a few unforeseen circumstances, our hiking season got off to a late start. We had a family trip to Italy, which while fun, delayed our summer plans for two reasons- one, we were gone, and two, when we got home, Birch ended up with not one, but two, sebaceous cyst ruptures which ended up being pretty difficult to heal though thankfully did not require surgery. The first one healed, so we thought were were in the clear, and on a weekend in Montana, we hiked up to a lake that held a naturally reproducing population of Arctic Grayling. We were playing chicken with an impending thunderstorm, and after catching a few fish each, we decided to head back down to the car as we had a long drive ahead of us to get back toward home. It was at that point we discovered ruptured cyst number two, which was worse than the first one. Sigh.
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| It wasn't a totally fishless vacation... |
With a two night backpack and summit of Old Snowy looming, I had to get in some elevation gain quickly. Shaun and I squeezed in an evening hike at Paradise, and I was able to hike with my friend Laura up to Comet Falls. Once Birch was healed, we did another evening hike down in the South Cascades. None of the hikes were particularly long, but the climbing and elevation gain was helpful in preparing my knees for my girls' trip to Old Snowy which was finally here.
I drove down to Packwood on Wednesday night to check into the motel the three of us secured to save us from a long drive to the trailhead the morning of our hike. My friends, Hannah and Candice, left from Tacoma about an hour and a half after I left Olympia. Once checked in, I started last minute preparations to organize my gear and make any last minute packing decisions. I was about five minutes in when the lights went out suddenly. Great, but at least I had a headlamp, since it was dusk. Besides, how long would the outage last anyway, an hour? Wrong. The power remained out for the next several hours, predictably restored around 2 am after we were all fast asleep and awakened to all lights on, TV at the loud volume I previously employed to cover up the noise permeating the thin walls. Eventually we all drifted back to sleep for a few more hours.
Up and at it early, we headed to the trailhead, intent to be hiking by 8:30 or so. It had rained all day on Wednesday up high, and Thursday dawned foggy and chilly at elevation. At the last minute, I threw another insulating layer in my pack, which turned out to be a wise decision. We made quick time on the trail, reaching Snowgrass Flat in just under a couple of hours, and then it was time to find a site. My goal was to be close to water, and we were lucky to find a site next to a small creek which would provide easy filtering while also providing a good mix of shelter during the hottest parts of the day and open canopy during the cool mornings. The downside of the site was it didn't really accommodate three tents, but we redneck rigged it- Candice in her two person tent in the upper spot, while Hannah and I did some real jigsaw puzzle work to cram our two one person tents in a spot made for one. The weather was supposed to warm up mid afternoon, but it clearly wasn't happening, and since there are no fires allowed, we decided to hike around a bit to stay warm. We climbed about a mile and a half up to the junction with the PCT, which we would also do the next morning on our way to Old Snowy. The views on day one were minimal, but the low hanging clouds made for a moody scene. We descended and decided on an early dinner before climbing in our tents and warm sleeping bags.
We got a little later start than I hoped the next morning, but we were finally on our way toward Old Snowy approaching 9 am. Climbing to the PCT junction, the views were much more expansive than the day prior when we were socked in by clouds. After taking a few pictures at the junction, we continued to climb upward on the PCT, now flanked by meadows of wildflowers against a backdrop of increasingly volcanic scenes. We now had views of Adams, St Helens, and after cresting the ridge and rounding a bend, Mt Rainier. We could also see Goat Lake cradled in its verdant cirque. We took lots of pictures which slowed our pace, but we didn't care. There were a lot of friendly hikers out and about, and the overall mood from everyone was grateful and happy. We eventually got to the lingering snowfield I had read about in the trip reports. After crossing with care, we paused for a quick snack and more photos before tackling the switchbacks up the PCT to the junction with the scramble to Old Snowy. We ate lunch and fueled up on some electrolytes at the saddle before starting the short but steep scramble. I also snapped some photos of a badass little kid who had summited and was on her way down the switchbacks. I flagged her dad down and got his number so I could share the photos with him (damn Android users) at the end of our trip, which I did, and he was really thankful to have that memory of his daughter captured. Candice was not comfortable with the scramble, so she stayed lower while Hannah and I continue upward, picking our way along the user trail that ascended through various sized boulders and scree with one slightly exposed section that made me a little nervous. Once to the summit, a couple was just coming down, which gave us a good half hour on the summit alone. We admired the endless views in all directions and basked in the alpine sun while reflecting on our 20 years of friendship that started all the way back in Maryland when we met during graduate school interviews. The scramble down was a little nervy just because we were tired and going down is always sketchier for me than going up. We took our time and eventually met back up with Candice. The three of use made our way down the switchbacks, pausing along the way for more photos. The snowfield was easier on the way back as it was less crowded, and the snow was softer.
Once back at camp, we decided to eat an early dinner and head to Goat Lake to watch sunset and then hike back in the dark. It would make for a long day, but we were all afraid we wouldn't want to get up early in the morning for sunrise. The hike up the Lily Basin trail gave way to beautiful scenes across the valley. Once at very crowded Goat Lake, the wind picked up, and we decided to move back into a sheltered area we found on our ascent, where we watched the sun sink to our west, wildflowers swaying in the stiff breeze. We hiked out by headlamp and were eager to crawl into our bags at the end of a long but satisfying day.
The next morning, all I could think about was a burger from the Huff n Puff, so after we packed our things and made sure our camp was clean, we hiked out mid-morning and made it to the car in plenty of time to enjoy some well-earned burgers and shakes.
A couple of asides from this trip. I can't even imagine trying to start this trip on a weekend or even a Friday. We parked really close to the trailhead early Thursday morning, but when we came out on Saturday, the lots and overflow lots were brimming with cars and people parking at the Berry Patch trailhead and walking the extra mileage to get to the Snowgrass TH. Secondly, when there's a fire ban, there's a good reason for it. We saw multiple people with fires, mostly near Goat Lake, which was really disappointing. Fire season in WA was terrible this year, with multiple fires over 20,000 acres each. Just don't be a dick, and follow the rules people who are more informed than you set.
While I was at Old Snowy, Shaun was hiking to another lake around White Pass to do some fishing with Birch. We had passed this lake several times but never fished it because it seemed crowded, and we were always on our way to somewhere else, but with nowhere else to go, Shaun gave it a shot and found some really nice cutthroat and cuttbow hybrids, so the next weekend, he was a good sport to go back so I could have a go at some big fish. We didn't catch many, but they were a good size for a mountain lake. For a weekend, it wasn't too busy, aside form the one guy who was also fishing and decided to fish closer to us than he should have. People can be really dumb, but he was nice and also caught a few good fish. We just prefer space, but when it's a weekend, and the Jerrys are out, you have to make do. We decided to call it a day as we were tired of sharing space, so we turned our attention to picking huckleberries and blueberries on our way back to the car. I have a patient who is in their 90's and can no longer go on walks in the mountains, so I had a special delivery of fresh picked berries for them during their next session.
There is another lake which shall not be named that we had tried to visit in the past only to get turned around by fading daylight, and since it is a full bushwhack to access, you really have to pay attention and stick to your turnaround times. It was time to give it another shot, so we got up early and headed to the turnout where we could access the creek drainage that would take us to the lake, albeit straight up the side of a mountain. We felt optimistic given we left early and had plenty of time, but after about an hour, we realized we had made a fatal error and ascended the wrong creek drainage. We finally topped out on the ridge, knowing the lake was below us, but the squished together contour lines on the map looked scary (usually means steep), and to our dismay, we were very much cliffed out with no safe way down to the lake. We were both so mad at ourselves for being careless and for not noticing our mistake earlier. We found another creek drainage/avalanche chute and followed that down as our way up was not a safe descent given the loose footing and high consequence terrain. I am confident in saying that where we were hasn't seen a human in a long time, if ever, and so that part was kind of cool, even if we did ultimately fail to reach our objective.
The next week, I took a chance on a little known/trafficked lake also near White Pass, intent to see if it also held big fish. It is kind of a mystery to me how few people know about it as it seems to be hiding in plain sight, but their loss is my gain. I started off on the PCT, easy grade at first before climbing switchbacks for about three quarters of a mile until it leveled out at a small lake that didn't look very fishy but has stocking records. I scoped it for a few minutes but felt the access was not ideal and decided to push on to the next lake. Finding the faint footpath, I walked through thick brush covered in the morning's dew which soaked by shorts, socks, and shoes through. Once at the lake, I was happy to see no signs of people, and I made my way around the lake to a point where there was a discernible drop off that looked to hold fish. It was cloudy and overcast and not very warm, and I didn't see much bug activity happening. I watched carefully, looking for signs of life, when I saw a couple of very sizable darts moving through the water, indicative of a cruising fish just below the surface. I decided to throw a white streamer to see if I could get one of these fish to chase it. Casting as far as I could toward the deeper water, I let the fly sit for a few seconds to sink below the surface before stripping the line and bringing the fly toward the shelf where I thought fish would be cruising. Sure enough, as the fly approached the shelf, a fish yanked it really hard. Instantly I could see (and feel) that it was a large fish. I worked it to the shallows and thrust my net forward to land a beautiful cutthroat. It barely fit in my net. The shallow water was warm, so I didn't spend much time taking pictures, but I did grab a quick video before watching it swim away, back to the depths. I decided it was a good time to eat my lunch, so I shared my PB sandwich with Birch and watched for more fish. I saw a few more darts but also started to see some isolated rises. I decided to put on a dry fly and see if I could coax another into the net. I went with an old reliable for high lakes, a black elk hair caddis, and after a few casts, another cutthroat came up and nailed it. This one was smaller than the first but still a more than respectable size for a like this small. I got a better photo of it as it was more colorful, and soon it, too was back into the sheltered dark water. With some showers moving into the area and potential for thunderstorms in an area that already had several fires nearby, I decided I was content with my two nice fish and a day of solitude with the pup, so we headed home with some good intel on this lake.
Perhaps buoyed by recent successes, we felt motivated to give our nemesis lake another try, this time, ascending the correct drainage. We found remnants of some user trails and some markers that were accurate about 50% of the time. Eventually, we just decided to tackle the last quarter mile by just walking up the creek bed, which of course when straight up but did terminate into the lake's outlet. It was a bit surreal to finally reach this place, its emerald waters glistening underneath a sunny, cloudless sky devoid of even a slight breeze. If we were just hiking, the weather would have been perfect, but when fishing, a few clouds and a light wind can work in your favor. Since we can't control the weather, we had to press on and give it a shot. We saw a couple of rises, conveniently out in the middle of the lake, but otherwise, there was not much happening. After a couple of hours, Shaun caught about an 8 inch golden trout, which gave me hope we would be able to find a few more. Nope. We fished all day. Hard. We saw multiple hatches come and go with no rising fish. I launched my packraft and explored the entire lake. Nothing. Some days are just like that, and golden trout are notoriously spooky, so the weather definitely did us no favors. I was pretty disappointed to not get my golden this year, but now we know exactly how to get back there, and while it is a little bit of type II fun, it's more worth it than not, and we will be back again.
All in all, not the summer hiking season I hoped for, but I did check off a big goal in Old Snowy and caught some nice fish, and there's always next year.
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