The Enchantments - Lake Viviane and Leprechaun Lake

October 26-27, 2013

At long last!!! We made it up to the Enchantments. An overnight trip is not nearly enough time to enjoy the splendor, but we took what we could get especially with this dry weather pattern.

Having only one car and hearing that Aasgard was dicey on the descent down, we opted for the Nada/Snow Lakes trailhead route to the Enchantments. We hiked to Nada Lake last year (post here) but at that time in May there was still too much snow to make it much farther than that. This time the weather was perfect and the climb up was just as grueling. Actually, much more so because we went farther. We were pretty much on our hands and knees most of the time past Snow Lakes for the climb up. Andy's fingertips look like I gnawed on them they were so raw (wear gloves on your way down). Part of the fun of the hike is looking for cairns and getting lost when you don't pay attention. A lot of the times when I was exhausted I would see a cairn and think, "Phew, we're on track. Others have been here and have gone through the same thing. I can do it! Mind on the prize!!!"

There are several sections along the rocks where there is rebar/concrete or areas where explosives were used to create steps and traction to help you up (below).

This hike is the bee's knees. I hope next year we can get a permit or do what we did this year for two nights at a minimum. Here are some photos from the journey:

Nada Lake behind me. Lake level was very low so there was a high point splitting the lake in two.

Upper Snow Lake. Low lake level, log jams, and nice group campsites. Prusik Peak in the background.

This dam separates upper and lower lakes. During snow melt water cascades over so you must be careful crossing to the other side.

Heading past Snow Lake...

But not before filtering more water for the final leg up.


What's left of the larches. Starting to brown and many needles on the ground, but still beautiful!


Lake Viviane in all her glory


Leprechaun Lake


Leprechaun Lake about 9.5 miles in. We hiked up a big rock to the highest.. 2nd highest point in the basin and set up our tent freestanding on the rocks. It was a sweet spot.


Andy placed rocks by the tent to make sure it did not slide off the cliff. We were pretty much set up right on the edge but it was such a nice spot!


Waiting for the stars. Andy is taking a 360° picture with his phone.


There were two groups camped out in the lower basin (left and center photos). Andy accidently caught them in the center photo at the very lower left edge of the photo. We ended up giving one of them a ride to the Colchuck TH. That's our tent in the right photo.

It got so windy at night that we had to hold our tent up with our hands to keep it from smacking us in the face. Andy went outside to try to prop it up with the trekking poles, but with the tent set up freestanding on the rocks it did not work well. We had to move to a more sheltered area just a few yards down to the left. We were able to stake the tent down and have the trekking poles for support. Our Tarptent held up very well and we were able to fall asleep. When we asked the group down at the basin how their night was, it was just as windy.


Good morning!


This was the new location of the tent.


It started snowing as we were packing up and the snow picked up on our hike down. There was close to 1/2" accumulation when we took this picture. By the time we reached Nada the snow had stopped and the rest of the hike down was dry.
It was surprising that there were very few cars at both Nada and Colchuck trailheads on Sunday afternoon.

West Fork Foss to Copper River

September 28, 2013

First of all, props to all the trail volunteers! This hike is so nice due in much part to all the work that has been put in to the bridges, stairs, etc. Awesome! :D

While the forecast warned of up to 1" of rain and wind gusts of up to 40 mph, we still got out of bed and made it out of the apartment by 9:30 am on the grey and soggy Saturday morning for a hike at West Fork Foss River with the intent of staying the night at Big Heart Lake. It's only about an hour and a half drive from Mill Creek and about 10 miles from Stevens Pass, so Slurmz didn't even have to chug up the mountain. Foss River Road is nice and paved in the beginning. We had to dodge some potholes, but nothing bad. Just before the trailhead you must drive through a quick flowing stream. I was scared to drive through it - I mean, what if we got swept down the river?! - but Andy said go for it. I don't know what the correct term for that was because it certainly looked like the driveway was designed a certain way for the water to flow and for one to drive over it safely but it looked like an overflowing culvert to me.

There was one car at the trailhead. In fact, they set up camp next to their car. At first I though that was strange, but then I looked at the entrance to the trail and there was caution tape and plastic covering the signboard. I thought the trail was closed not only because of the plastic and tape, but because the garbage receptacles and restrooms were locked. Upon further inspection, however, there was only caution tape around some blow downs so we were good to go! Still not sure why there was plastic covering the board. Also, the check in box for permits was no where to be seen, however, so make sure your family and/or friends know of your plans before you head in.

Clad in our (unintentional) matching rain gear the two of us hiked in the steady, moderate to heavy rain for about two hours. We passed by lovely Trout Lake, heard some pikas and birdies, and saw some awesome waterfalls all around near and far.

Twinsies!

Trout Lake
By the time we reached Copper Lake, I was exhausted like I had been all week at home. Andy decided it would be best to set up camp here and we found the only decent campsite that was not flooded. It was super windy and gusty but luckily the rain stopped in time for us to pitch our tent and eat our sandwiches. Yeah, we brought sandwiches instead of bringing a stove to warm food up. We might try this next trip, too, especially since we've been only doing overnights. While eating, I started shivering and my fingers turned into sausages and I was just so miserably cold AND it started raining again. Looking up, the giant trees around us were swaying all over the place. With all these factors combined and wind gusts of up to 60 mph, we decided it would be best to pack up and head home. The four guys who came in just as we were leaving were fortunate that we came to this decision otherwise I don't think they would have had anywhere to camp! It was a good trip. We put our waterproof/resistant clothing to the test under 4 hours of hiking in the rain. Everything held up great. And we also found out that hiking in the rain does not suck. It's actually quite enjoyable. I still need to find a way to stay warm. Maybe I should just constantly be doing jumping jacks.

Water on trail

So many distant waterfalls

That waterfall is Copper Lake's outlet. It sure felt like a long, steady climb up to the lake.

Wouldn't you know? We didn't end up taking any pictures at the lake.

Lake Valhalla & Lake Janus

September 14 - 15, 2013

Andy and I were itching to go hiking all week. Stumbled upon Lake Valhalla so decided to go there. The trail head is literally across from Steven's Pass so it was a quick and easy drive. Started our hike at 10 am and got up to the lake by 12:30 pm. It was a pretty easy one and we could not have asked for nicer weather. We were debating whether to go another 4.3 miles to Lake Janus to set up camp there since Lake Valhalla was so busy, but I decided we found a nice spot just above the lake so we stayed put. Let me tell you, there were a lot of new parents with their babies, lots of adorable doggies, and just a good amount of hikers in general. After having lunch with some bees and splashing in the water, we headed out on an ~8.5 mile day hike to Lake Janus. Again, there was quite a bit of stock manure and quite possibly bear scat but we did not encounter any bears. Lake Janus is lovely - serene and secluded with nice meadows surrounding it and some floating lily pads. The sandy shore at Valhalla is definitely much nicer, but if you wanted to be alone Janus would be the place to stay. After snapping a few photos Andy and I made our way back to camp just in time for dinner. We rehydrated up some delicious homemade chili mac and reflected on our total 14.5 mile day hike. I believe that's the most mileage we have done in one day. We were also hiking at a good pace that day.
You know what is also cool? We got to chat with a couple solo PCT thru-hikers on Saturday. One of them had a late start in May (people usually begin in April)and had just about 10 days left before he would make it to Canada and another hiker was doing the hike in reverse - heading to S. Cali or as far as he could get. Andy and my long-term/life's goal is to hike the PCT in one go. I asked my boss once if I could take six months off to hike the PCT to which he replied, "Sure, as long as you take the days off on the weekends."

Here are some of our lovely photos:

Lots of mushrooms growing on this trail. This one was cool - reminds me of "1-up" mushrooms in Mario Bros.

Beautiful meadows - perfect for stock animals to graze.

Lake Valhalla and Lichtenberg Mountain.

Campsite

Andy bought us a cool new stove.

Cooling off in the water. Those are Andy's legs - he was doing a handstand but started sinking. You can also see the nice sandy shore in the foreground.

I love Andy!

Stopped for a photo on the way to Lake Janus. Lake Valhalla behind us.

Lake Janus was so nice.

Perfecting the night time pictures.

Caught a shooting start at 4 am.

Morning hike out.

Rainy Pass to Cutthroat Pass/PCT 2000/Granite Pass

This is a hike I will never forget.

Andy and I have been so busy with the move that we were so excited to plan this next overnight. The weather had been so nice the past several weeks and this weekend was the height of the Perseid meteor shower. Well, wouldn't ya know - thunderstorms and lightning predicted for Saturday night. Right on friggin' cue. No matter, Andy and I still wanted to go since t-storm chance was only "somewhat likely" in the North Cascades versus "very likely" near Rampart Lakes (this was our second choice hike). John and Nicole came with us this trip. This choice of hike was a bit ambitious for their first hike of the season, but I think the views and new experiences were well worth it - right, guys? Luckily, the weather gods gave us beautiful weather on our hike in and out :D We were so lucky and I was so grateful.

The original plan was to start at Rainy Pass, stop for lunch at Cutthroat Pass and then hike the rest of the way to Snowy Lakes and camp in Methow Valley. This would have made it ~11 mile trip. So, after lunch and some exciting events at Cutthroat Pass (!) we made it to Granite Pass and decided it would be best to camp here instead. We set up our tents keeping in mind safe locations if a thunderstorm were to pass (low valley areas with smaller trees) and went on our way to look for water. Fortunately there was a small stream about 0.5 miles father down the trail.

The four of us enjoyed dinner together. FYI - once you stop moving, the mosquitoes are relentless. We used 3M UltraThon DEET lotion to keep the bugs at bay. I got away with 3 bites this year instead of 100+ like last year. Anyways, all throughout dinner we all had our eyes on the sky and after literally putting the second to last bite of dinner in my mouth, a raindrop hit my face. A couple minutes later the rain came down faster so we packed up, reviewed some safety tips if the storm got bad, and headed into our tents. Man, were we in for a show. We may not have gotten a meteor shower show, but we got heavy rain, thunder and lightning. The first storm began at 8 pm and once the rain passed, Andy opened up this rain fly so we could watch the lighting show over the Snowy Lakes/Tower Mountain area safely in our awesome Tarptent. About an hour later, the big daddy storm was right over our heads. Super heavy rain, loud, rolling thunder and 30 strikes of lightning per minute. Yeah, 30 per minutes. It was awesome and terrifying. At one point it got so bad Andy and I suited up in our rain gear and went outside to get in a safer position but as we were huddled in the valley, we looked back at our tent and realized that it was already in a safe location so we went back in the tent and fell asleep to the sound of rumbling thunder and blinding lightning.

Here's a few pics. Aside from the storm, you'll see why this was such an amazing trip :D

Haha this picture always makes me laugh.

Lunch break and photo op at Cutthroat Pass. Gorgeous.

As John and Nicole were finishing up their lunches, Andy and I headed up a little hill to explore and take more pictures.

I was about to head back down because I didn't think John and Nicole were coming up but they were actually on our way so we took a few more pictures of them and us.

I felt like I was standing awkward and was all like "What should I do with my left hand?!" I didn't want to put it on my hip because it's so "pose-y"..

To which Andy replied "I know what you can do with that hand... Marry me."

Yup! We're engaged!!!!! August 10, 2013 :D :D :D (If you get a chance to hear it, Andy's side of the story is hilarious)
*****

Storm clouds rolling in during dinner at Granite Pass.

We have a video of the lightning show, but Andy also got a good pic.

Hike out. You can see how lovely the weather was on our hike out.
The storm was so severe that night that SR 20 west of Rainy Pass was closed due to mudslides and what not. Luckily we were not four of the 65 hikers trapped due to the trailhead washing out. However, SR 20 west was our way home so we had to take a 4.5 hour detour through Chelan, Wenatchee, Goldbar. Took us 7.5 hours to get home. Phew! What a trip indeed.

2013 Golite Jam First Impressions

Just got my Medium GoLite Jam 50L (2013) today! Its a pretty sweet, comfortable pack.
I knew the foam framesheet thing was going to be pretty hard/rigid, but I was surprised just how dense/hard it was. More like a foamed plastic than ccf foam.

Specs can be found on GoLite's Site. I'm really liking the hip belt, as it's nice and big with large pockets, and has full wrap around my hips. I also really like the center strip of 3D Spacer Mesh down the back and on the hip belts, as I get swamp back like nobody's business and the mesh should help with that some. Also, the pouch on the front is roomy, and can fit several items even when the main pack is full. The stretch mesh water bottle pockets are nice and large.

The Jam is a frameless pack, and should be fine as is for our normal overnight/weekend trips where my packweight is ~17 lbs with food and water. However, I love to mess around with my gear so...
Added some minor mods right off the bat.
Sewed on some fabric with grommets to the seam just on the other side of the load lifter straps on the inside, and on the sides and tied shock cord to keep a sheet of coroplast (corrugated sign board, pretty much plastic cardboard) in place. The corrugation is oriented so that the board can bend/flex vertically along the curves of my spine, but is rigid horizontally, so the pack won't barrel out when full. The reinforced seam area now comes over the top of the coroplast and securely holds it in place. This allows the load lifters to actually do their job.

Tossed in my quilt (no stuff sack), random cans of soup/broth, water bottles, sleeping pads, etc for a total weight of ~ 22 lbs.

Load lifter straps relaxed, pack pulling back on shoulders

 Load lifters tightened, weight off of shoulders, transferred to hips (although, at this weight, removing the coroplast would allow the pack to conform to my back and carry just as well, don't really even need to use the hip belts for that little weight).

Also added some shock cord to the bottom to have some control of bottom compression instead of the all or none Kompactor system (for reducing volume when using as day pack or carrying less). The side compression straps have opposite male/female buckles, so the left and right straps can be crossed around the front to reduce volume even more, a pretty cool feature

At a load of 20-25 lbs and the stock foam is plenty for me, but the coroplast does make it carry a little nicer, I think (I'll decide after hiking some miles in it). I might hit up Tap Plastics and get some foamed PVC and form it to the shape of my back and see how that works for weights >25-30 lbs. I suppose I don't really need it since I did buy a frameless pack, but it's fun to tinker so, why not?

I'll add final weights, etc. once I cut off excess webbing/straps, etc. and update the review once I take it out on a trip.