Blech. Weather's looking lousy, but it's Sunday morning so I need to go hiking. Clara asked if I'd give up my Sunday climbs of Mailbox and other local trips to do more stuff with her and the kids. Duh. I reminded her that Sunday morning hikes as part of the necessary conditioning to do more interesting trips. This was going to be one of those trips.
Rather than heading somewhere exciting or interesting I decided to do a quick run up to Melakwa Lake. It's a pretty standard hike listed in all the guidebooks. Sure, waterfalls, lakes, and a good tread make for a nice walk, but nothing too epic. Plus, if I hurried I could tag Low Mountain on the way up.
Yeah. Right. (On multiple counts.)
The main waterfall was shrouded in clouds and in full Spring glory. Snap snap, but I've seen it before so I continued on. (How jaded I have become. A shot of it got almost 2,600 likes on Instagram when reposted by wander_washington.)
At Hemlock Pass I hung a left on the ridge (bypassing some of the blowdown blocking the trail) and started picking my way along. I expected it to be an easy off-trail walk through the woods with a minimum of bushwhacking. In reality, the ridge is a mess of down trees, tangled branches, and narrow rocks with steep drop-offs. I looked at Mr. GPS and he told me I wouldn't be able to get there and back on schedule. Plus there was the threat of death for me or Treen so I strategically withdrew to the Pass.
Since I'm fairly destination-driven I decided I'd wander down to Melakwa Lake just to say I'd gotten somewhere. It was only a question because it's a descent from the pass meaning I'd have to climb a little on the way out. The lake was nice, but it's just a lake in the woods that I've been to many times before. With time still on the clock I followed the trail around the side of the lake to the upper lake. I'd been there only once before on a day just like this. At least it was something new.
But wait. That's not what I expected to see. Blue sky and sun breaking through the clouds behind me. An alpine valley stretching up to Melakwa Pass between imposing peaks. Snow covered much of the rock so Treen and I pushed on. Marmots whistled and wispy clouds moved through. I really, really wanted to get to the pass to look down on Chair Lake, but our time was up.
While we sauntered back to Melakwa Lake it struck me that all the times I've been up to the lake and thought, "Meh," this has been just a few hundred feet through the trees. How many wasted opportunities. Worse, how many other spots had I missed because I just did what I thought I was supposed to do? At the lake there were tons of people walking off the trail only to turn around and head back down. I did tell a couple that was camped there that they simply must head up beyond the upper lake, but the others I let miss out.
Maybe you've been there and after seeing this you'll push a little further up the valley. Or maybe you'll see a little-used scratch of a trail leaving the heavily used track on your next adventure. Do yourself a favor and walk a few feet off the trail to see what's hiding just around the corner.
