If you look at a map of the wilderness you'll see there are tons and tons of places to go, but the actual trails to get you there aren't nearly as numerous. Sometimes you can get close to your destination and then the line on the map just... ends. Trip reports can help, but at the end of the day whether you made it or not is part determination and part luck. We had the former, but not the latter. (And truth be told, the former was fleeting toward the end.)
We started with the predictably terrible drive up seven miles of rough, rough forest service road. This is a road that would be closed if it didn't provide access to the in-holders farther upstream. Already the last seven miles of the road have been gated because holy cow they are truly nasty.
The trail was nice. It's fairly well trod and decently maintained. Of course, we weren't on that trail for too long. When the GPS said we should turn left, we did. Not that there was an immediately obvious trail, but when our digital overlords say turn, we turn.
After a bit of bushwhacking, we did find the trail and it was... ok. Not great, but ok. Lots of blowdown, but not too hard to follow. It led us to the lake at the base on the peak we were chasing. Also chasing: mosquitos. So many mosquitos. They were all over us. So much so we didn't stay at the lake long.
Of course, now that we were at the end of any semblance of a trail we didn't get away quickly. The route was steep, rocky, and full of cliff bands. We did see an occasional flag marking someone else's attempt, but those could just as likely ended in someone's remains as the summit. We pushed up, but missed a crucial turn and wound up on the wrong side of a 50 foot cliff. No ramps or reasonable ways to regain the high ground so we were trapped much like Anakin.
We did find a couple of pikas and an abundance of bear poop that put the fear into us. Between the bears and the mosquitos, there wasn't likely to be much of us left after too much longer, so we started our retreat.
And we missed another turn somewhere. We were too far to skier's left and had to find some more interesting ways down through the cliff bands. Not to worry, we stuck to our plan of never going down something we can't go back up so we were unlikely to get stuck. Still, when we saw the lake through the trees it was a wondrous sight.
So inviting, in fact, that we didn't even bother taking off our shoes and just waded straight into the water. Tink was quite surprised, but adapted well enough. She swam around and around until I finally grabbed her and held her. Kinda nice, actually. Plus the bugs left us alone for a few minutes.
Yes, the walk down the mountain and out the trail was a squelchy one, but it was also awfully refreshing. Lots of people dip into alpine lakes when they can. If this becomes a new thing for us, I will not object.
📍On the lands of the Snoqualmie people.
