"I would definitely recommend this trip to a friend."
WILLIAMS LAKE/DUTCH MILLER GAP/PACIFIC CREST TRAIL TO SNOQUALMIE PASS
ALPINE LAKES WILDERNESS AREA
SEPTEMBER 8-13, 1990
KEITH AND KEN KONIGSMARK AND SHADOW
Keith was back for his second backpack trip in Washington, and I was ready to revisit and show him the most scenic areas of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness that I had hiked thru during my solo six day trip in 1987. We would start at the end of Middle Fork Snoqualmie River Road and be picked up by Morven six days later after hiking approximately 60 miles to Snoqualmie Pass, and after intersecting the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) on the third day. This was Shadow's first week-long trip so he was very excited and anxious to get his pack (containing his own food) put on. Morven decided to go in with us for the first night, then head back to the start point the next morning to drive back home, while Keith, Shadow, and I headed in the opposite direction for the rest of the week.
Sat, Sept 8- It was rainy and drizzling as we left Issaquah, and I wondered if we'd have a miserable day (or week) ahead. We almost decided to wait one day to start, but decided to go. It took about 1 1/2 hours to drive the 27 miles of the Middle Fork Road to the trailhead; the road is potholed, crosses creeks, and in some spots is bare boulders that you have to drive over. I was hoping my car would work for Morven the next day when he had to get back home. As we reached the trailhead, the clouds parted and sunlight came pouring down; a welcome change to what we'd expected. We were heading about 10 miles to Williams Lake, so got going right away. The trail heads straight up a long, steep-walled valley, which had a stream crashing through below,and clouds swirling around the peaks above. We walked for a few hours, stopping for lunch at a flat. open meadow where a bridge crossed a stream. I went on ahead to claim the best campsite, while Keith and Morven rested.
It's about another 3 miles to the lake, through forests and fields of blueberries. Williams Lake sits in a bowl, surrounded by steep mountains on three sides, with a flat, grassy meadow on the opposite side of the lake from the trail. This is where we set up camp, having soft grass to sleep on, and a spectacular view of the lake and snowy Big Chief Mountain out the front flap. We had a couple hours before dinner, so each of us found a quiet place up in the big boulder field behind us to lay in the sun and relax or read. Morven had packed in a good dinner of brats and beans to cook over an open fire, along with a bottle of wine which we cooled in one of the nearby streams. As we ate dinner, we noticed a huge cloud bank moving up the valley towards us, and before long, we surrounded by a chilly fog. The wine and the fire kept us warm until all three of us, plus Shadow crammed into the tent for the night.
Sun, Sept 9- We woke to a perfectly clear day, and as Keith opened the tent flap, we had an awesome view of Big Chief, covered with sunlight, out the front. After breakfast, Morven packed up and headed out on his 10-mile hike back to the car. Keith, Shadow, and I were not moving our camp this day, but were taking a long side trip up into the mountains behind us, through the Chain Lakes area and to the top of the ridgeline of Mt. Daniel and Mt. Hinman (7000'). It was a steep climb through a field of huge granite boulders and past snowfields that remained from last winter to get to the Chain Lakes. The area is full of big granite slabs uncovered during the last ice age, and several small lakes amongst the rocks. Miners had been here long ago and we found Fool's Gold, crystals, and other leftovers near their mine shafts, which were still open. Views of jagged, rocky peaks can be seen in every direction from this area. We went higher up to deep blue La Bohn Lake and views to the north of the Necklace Lakes.
After lunch, we scouted out the least steep climbing route up the ridgeline towards the top of Mt. Hinman, hoping to reach the edge of the large glacier fields. We climbed like mountain goats, taking lots of breaks and pictures, and having to drag Shadow up by his collar in some places where he couldn't make it up the steep rocks alone. The views were spectacular, with jagged, rocky peaks in all directions and Chain and Williams Lakes far below. As we reached the top of the ridge, the entire view to the east opened up with Lake Rowenna far below us on our cliff-top edge. We stayed up on the sharp crest of the ridge for an hour or so, enjoying the views, taking poster shots, and laying in the sun. Climbing back down to La Bohn Lake was almost harder than getting up, and we had to be very careful not to slip and fall.
From here, we had a long walk through the boulder fields around Chain Lakes to get back down to our campsite at Williams Lake. We were all pooped, but Shadow especially was. He layed by a log near the fire and wouldn't move an inch, even to eat his food that night, and I was worried that we had killed him. He wasn't used to all of the steep climbing, where he had to pull himself up with his claws. We ate a big dinner, then got a good nights sleep.
Monday, Sept 10- We woke up stiff and sore from the tough climb, and Shadow could hardly walk. I was again worried that we might kill him, so I carried his pack plus mine today to make it easier for him. We packed up then headed for Dutch Miller Gap, a little pass through the steep mountains. It was a steady climb, and we were sweating within the first half mile. As we got to the pass, we could look down onto Ivanhoe Lake, which was shimmering, turquoise blue. We passed the beautiful stream which feeds Ivanhoe right where it cascades down a waterfall into a nice pool. We filled our canteens, then Shadow cruised around in the pool a few times, swimming some laps. We reached the lakeshore, and took a break, so I unpacked my fish pole to give it a try. On the first cast a trout grabbed my lure and I pulled him in, then the same on the second cast, the third, and so on. We couldn't keep the fish off of the line! Even as we started walking again, I'd cast over my shoulder, behind my back, etc. and catch a fish almost every time. Neither of us had ever seen anything like it.
We walked up to a peninsula near the end of the lake that juts out into the middle where we were going to eat lunch. We continued fishing, and were having amazing luck. Knowing that we'd never get another chance like this, we decided to stop here for the day, enjoy the fishing and the scenery, and make up the distance lost the next day. We each took a quick, cold dip in the lake before lunch, then ate. We spent the afternoon walking the shoreline, trying different areas to fish. Everywhere we went, the fish attacked the lure. Sometimes 4-5 trout would be following a trout that we had already caught as we reeled it in. They were some species of a cutthroat trout with beautiful coloring on their sides. We caught at least 50 fish, but threw them all back in except for the two biggest ones which we kept for dinner. We also explored huge granite rock formations above the lake which gave great views down to Waptus Lake. We had a nice evening camping on the little peninsula and the weather was warm enough, with no bugs around, so that I slept outside under the stars.
Tuesday, Sept 11- We got up and going for what we knew would be a long day. The temperature was already getting hot too. We walked 4 miles down from Ivanhoe Lake to intersect the PCT at Shovel Creek. We would take the PCT from here to the end at Snoqualmie Pass. The trail immediately started going uphill, and continued uphill for 5-6 miles through many switchbacks. We were on a mostly open mountainside facing directly into the morning sun, so we started sweating quickly with the elevation gain and the heat. Along the way were great views back towards Bear's Breast Mountain and down to Waptus Lake, so we took lots of pictures. Within a few hours, we had drank most of our canteens of water, and there were no streams on this side of the mountain. We stopped at a level, shady spot long enough to eat a quick lunch and drink the last of our water, and Shadow layed down flat on the trail, pooped out.
We then continued climbing across the ridgeline above Esmerelda Lake, finding some pools of water that weren't clean enough to drink. We finally came to the crest of the ridge and crossed to the other side where we were staring into the snowy, glacier-covered peaks of Lemah Mountain. Now, we had to go back down the ridge on the reverse side the same distance we had coming up, and we were getting real thirsty by now. After 2-3 more miles in the hot sun, we finally heard the sound of running water and raced towards it up the trail. We found a small stream crossing the trail and, as Shadow slurped away, Keith and I unloaded our packs, got out our water bottles and Gatorade, and made up two quarts which we drank immediately, sitting in the shade. After a rest, we continued on, going several miles further downhill until we came to the valley floor and Lemah Creek. An avalanche last winter had bowled over several acres of big trees which were blocking the trail.
We followed boot paths around, but still had to cross areas of flowing water where the avalanche had dammed Lemah Creek, causing flooding. We had hoped to camp here, but with the flooding on all of the flat area, we had to keep moving. After 2-3 more miles, and being dead-tired by now, we came to a creek which had one campsite nearby. We had gone at least 18 miles with full packs and with little water on a hot, sunny day, so we were ready to stop. We took turns taking a bath in the creek, and planned out our well-deserved, big meal of three freeze dried dinners plus dessert. Shadow retreated to a spot by a log, layed down, and wouldn't move, even for his food again. I was worried that we really might have killed him, so we cooked up some more freeze-dried food for him (instead of his dog food which he wouldn't eat) and had to almost spoon-feed him. We went to bed early and slept well.
Weds, Sept 12- All of us were aching as we got ready, but again had another long hike ahead of us. We headed out for Spectacle Lake, climbing a ridgeline and looking down at the cloudy valleys below. As we neared Spectacle Lake after a tough, tiring climb, clouds started to build up and collect around the mountain tops. We hiked into Spectacle Lake which is surrounded by granite slabs that form the lakeshore and had a snack and tried the fishing, with no luck. After pictures, we started a long, 3-mile uphill hike to Park Lakes and open meadow country. As we got to the meadows, we entered the clouds and were in damp, misty drizzle which cooled us down quickly. We still had much more uphill climbing to go as we went several more miles across the rocky, open Chickamin ridge. The trail here is nothing but rocks and is a narrow, little strip on a steep downward slope. We had to be careful not to twist an ankle or to fall. It stayed cloudy, but stopped drizzling for most of the afternoon.
As we wound around Huckleberry Mountain and Mt. Thompson we had good views of Joe Lake and all the Chickamin mountains. But again, we began more steep, uphill climbing with lots of switchbacks to head towards Gravel and Alaska Lakes. Both of us were tired by now, and Keith started lagging. I went on ahead, taking breaks as needed on the switchbacks. As we neared Gravel Lake, a cold drizzle and strong winds began, soaking and freezing us. We decided to find a campsite as soon as we could, so stopped just off trail by Gravel Lake. The wind was really blowing now, and Keith was starting to get hypothermia. We threw the tent up and I dug out my stove to get some heat generated. Keith jumped in while I continued getting the water and getting our packs stored. I was freezing too by the time I jumped in the tent, and the stove had warmed it up quickly. We did our cooking in the tent as the storm raged outside, whipping the tent walls back and forth. We had again covered at least 15 miles of tough, uphill climbing today, so the food and the warmth in the tent felt great. After dinner, we threw the dishes outside till the morning and layed in our sleeping bags listening to the wind and the rain until we drifted off to sleep.
Thurs, Sept 13- We woke to a gorgeous, sunny day, totally different from the night before. We took our time getting ready, knowing that this was our last day and wanting to enjoy the scenery and the nice weather. We had about a 7-mile walk to Snoqualmie Pass where we would call Morven to let him know we were ready for pick-up. We were both ready to get back to civilization but also not quite ready to get back too. We started out on the final uphill stretch which took us over a steep, narrow section of trail carved into a cliff face, then ended when we reached the crest of the ridge by Kendall Peak. We stopped here to scramble up to the top where we had a complete view to the south of Mt. Rainier and of the Snoqualmie Pass area. From here, we started downhill for another 5 miles of switchbacks through the forest. We kept thinking that we should be nearing the end, but the trail kept going on and on.
Finally, at about 1:00, we stumbled out onto the road that serves the Pass, hungry, thirsty, and ready for rest. We walked up to the Ski Lodge restaurant to have one of their famous Ski Burgers, fries, beer, coke, and water, which all tasted great after a week out in the wilds. After lunch, we went outside to a picnic table in the sun, got a newspaper, six-pack of Rainier, and a corndog for Shadow, and layed out our foam mats to wait for Morven. We enjoyed resting and drinking our beers for about 3 hours till Morven came pulling up. Shadow could barely walk to the car and jump in on his shaky, stiff legs. After a quick trip home, and a warm and welcome bath, we went to Tony Roma's where we feasted on a rib dinner to top things off, and Shadow layed in his bed for the next two days.
Note: This is backcountry wilderness travel. You are responsible for informing yourself of the hazards and taking the necessary precautions.
-->