Kevin and I took a long weekend to go on a backpacking trip! We've been talking about going on one for quite some time, and just never seemed to have a totally free weekend to get a trip in. But we got our ducks in a row (and the chickens fed) and headed out to one of my favorite places in the world, Spectacle Lake. It's in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness outside of Roslyn. Since it's a longish hike in, we decided to make it a three day trip, and both took Friday off work! We headed up to the ranger station in Cle Elum to get a new parking pass for the year, and found out the trail had just opened, that morning! There was a forest fire there last summer which had led to some washouts on the trail during the winter. Talk about lucky timing!
I have gone to Spectacle Lake twice before this trip when I was in high school, and it remains one of my most favorite places. It is absolutely gorgeous, and since it's too long to do as just a day hike for most people, it doesn't seem to get very crowded. Plus, it doesn't show up in many guide books it seems. So I was thrilled to share this place with Kevin, and I think he agrees with me that it is just about perfection!
We started up the trail about 10:30am, and each with carrying about 40 pound packs, made our way to Pete Lake fairly quickly, as it is a mostly flat trail. Very, very buggy though!
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| Kevin takes a breather at the top of a hill |
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| Digesting after lunch above Pete Lake |
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| Pete Lake |
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| Crossing Lemah Creek, brrrrrrrrrrr! |
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| We studied this scene for awhile after crossing the creek. Shoe monster? |
After crossing Lemah Creek, we headed into the forest that had been damaged by forest fire. It was sort of surreal walking through this area, it was quite beautiful in some ways, especially where the new growth was coming up against the red and blackened trees.
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| Spectacle Lake from above |
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| Dinner is served! |
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We enjoyed two lovely days at the lake pretty much all by ourselves. It was amazing to think that you can hike 11 miles and be completely isolated from the outside world.
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| We had a beautiful sunrise on Saturday morning! |
Not a bad place to wake up!
Enjoying my cup of oatmeal...bleh!
Kevin attempted to lure some fish onto shore, but mostly they just ran into his fly! They were jumping like crazy in the evening, and pretty active in the morning, but didn't manage to land one.
Kevin went for an 8 mile day hike on Saturday while I stayed behind with the hopes of getting some sunshine and reading while my blistered feet recuperated. Alas, the sun did not really want to shine, and it became quite windy and cold! I spend most of the day in the tent reading and snoozing! Kevin had a great hike, though!
Packing up to head back to the real world!
Goodbye Spectacle Lake, it was a pleasure visiting your shores again!
The crossing of Lemah Creek wasn't any easier the second go around! But well worth the frozen feet!
Kevin attempted to lure some fish onto shore, but mostly they just ran into his fly! They were jumping like crazy in the evening, and pretty active in the morning, but didn't manage to land one.
Kevin went for an 8 mile day hike on Saturday while I stayed behind with the hopes of getting some sunshine and reading while my blistered feet recuperated. Alas, the sun did not really want to shine, and it became quite windy and cold! I spend most of the day in the tent reading and snoozing! Kevin had a great hike, though!
Packing up to head back to the real world!
The crossing of Lemah Creek wasn't any easier the second go around! But well worth the frozen feet!
1 comment:
So much fun! Maybe we can get another one in before it gets too cold?
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