Gear Test

In anticipation of my upcoming John Muir Trail hike I took off last weekend (8/4 & 8/5) and tested out the ol'body and gear for the trip. I left early Saturday morning thinking I would hike deep into the Cascades on a trail originating near Leavenworth; a trail I had never been to before and one which was likely overgrown. But when I got to Leavenworth I stopped by the ranger station and found that they were just about to start the Enchantment lakes lottery drawing. So of course I couldn't resist entering. Lo and behold I was the first one drawn and was awarded a coveted permit to camp in the Enchantments. So I changed plans.

I took the Colchuk Lake / Aasgard Pass route and was strolling into the upper Enchantment Lakes basin just before noon! I can't believe how much easier this route is than hiking all the way up the Snow creek valley, like I usually do. Before I had walked even a 1/4 mile down into the basin I spotted 10 mountain goats, several of them kids. They were not all together but came in groups of 1 or 2. I've seen many goats in the Enchantments before. But there were so many at one time that I was starting to wonder if they were looping around behind me and walking by again! It was a blue sky near perfect day to wander through that wonderland of granite, sapphire lakes and twisted gnarly Larch trees. I was in heaven!

I stopped at the first lake with fish, about halfway down the basin, and started waving the ol' wand. I caught two fish on my own hand-tied Elk Hair Caddis fly within 5 minutes. Even though I broke the tip off of my fly rod on the hike in, I was still in heaven! The fish were small like usual but they fought like true cutts and were exciting to see thriving in the cold clear lakes.

I wandered over to one of my favorite lakes, Crystal Lake, hoping that I could do some fishing here and camp at one of my favorite spots. Unfortunately a large group was already there so I decided to head for the hills and a bit of seclusion. I hiked up over Prusik pass and wandered down to secluded Shield Lake.

I have explored this area before and have been wanting to camp here for a long time. Fortunately, most of the Enchantment hikers are too lazy to climb over Prusik Pass so Shield lake and the lakes below it almost never get visitors. For me, walking down into this basin is like walking into a forgotten land, a near-perfect wilderness, the garden of Eden. The trail becomes ever more overgrown, to the point where in the meadows, the trail is barely recognizable. The entire valley seems to be alive with the songs of birds, the constant thrum of bugs and the pitter-patter of fish riseing on the lake. During my stay at Shield lake I was startled on more than one occasion by a large splash on the lake. I would quickly look out over the lake to see an Osprey rising from the lake with a fish.

I wandered down to the lake and took up my spot on a point of land near the outlet stream. The outlet stream is more like a canal since it soon enters another lake further down valley. Because of the large amount of water which comes directly off the melting snows of the surrounding ridges, the valley was extremely lush this year. After catching a fish or two I camped at Shield Lake and had the entire valley and lake to myself. I was in heaven!

The stars were out that night but I setup my Tarptent since I needed to test it out and I need the practice setting it up. This time I was able to set it up well and actually got the feeling that it will work for my upcoming trip. Until I woke in the morning and noticed that the bottom part of my sleeping bag had been soaked by condensation on the inside of the low end of the tent. Because the tent is so low at the foot end of the tent my bag rubs on the ceiling thereby picking up condensation. I am not sure how I will deal with this on my trip, but I am not too worried.

On Sunday I did a bit of fishing in the morning then ambled back up out of the valley just in time to see a couple of rangers dropping into the valley. When they checked my permit I am certain that they were surprised to find that I was legal. I have to admit that I have considered visiting Shield Lake to stealth camp on many occasions. They said they usually don't patrol this valley but that they would head down valley and work cross-country to the Snow Creek drainage. They indicated that they had never tried it before. I told them how I had tried the same thing before and never found the correct route.

After leaving the rangers I stopped by Inspiration Lake and did some fishing before heading toward the car. On the way out of the Enchantments I ran (not literally) up Little Annapurna and caught some awe-inspiring views. Little Annapurna mountain really isn't nearly as grand as it's name sounds (named after the Himalayan peak) but it does have a cool summit. On it's summit a few large heavily weathered rocks project out over a couple thousand foot chasm on the south side. I like to go out and sit on the rocks where I can get the feeling that I am suspended in the air; my own little magic carpet ride. Usually after a few minutes I start to get characteristically paranoid that there will be an earthquake! If there was any sort of earthquake I am certain that I would be taking a fast trip to the bottom of the valley. The rocks on top look like they are ready to topple over at any time!

My knee injury was ever present on the hike out but it didn't slow me down and it seems to be slightly less painful/sore. All in all it was an awesome trip and it made me even more excited to take a long walk on the John Muir Trail next month!