It has been a hectic summer, and there has not been a lot of time for exploring the mountains of Washington, so Jared decided to head out to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. There are a lot of mountain lakes in this area, and we haven't seen but a few thus far. So today Jared decided to try to hit four lakes, with three of them being new to us.
This trail was washed out just a few years ago, but the trail team put in a new fancy bridge that is much higher to hopefully avoid natures winter and spring wrath. This is a wilderness area, so we have no idea how they got that giant I-beam there and got it mounted across this wash of boulders?!
About 1.5 miles up the trail is the first lake: Trout Lake. This is a nice little lake, and Jared has been to this one before. It always seems to have a few trout raising, but he's not had much luck catching any of them!
As you leave Trout Lake, you start winding up a long climb (often with no shade) towards a hanging valley where Copper Lake and Malachite Lake reside. It's about 2 miles or so up to this point, and it is forever up. There are some amazing views on the way, like this winding waterfall which it turns out is the outlet of Copper Lake.
Here's another cool little log bridge... stuff like this is what makes these trails so cool.
About 1/2 mile or so before you get to Copper Lake, there is a turn off to Malachite Lake. It is only 1/4 mile from this point up to Malachite Lake, but it is incredibly steep and often requires scrambling on all fours. But, it was well worth it!
This is where Jared stopped for lunch and also did a bit of fishing. He had the lake to himself at this point which was excellent. He also caught two trout! Both little rainbows. You can kind of see one in the shot below... isn't easy to snap a shot while trying to land it!
Malachite Lake was awesome, but daylight was burning. Jared needed to get going if he was to make it to two more lakes! So back down the steep trail and on to Copper Lake! And... here is the outlet!
And, finally, Copper Lake!
There were some really amazing mountains just behind the lake. Here is a closer shot.
And here is where Jared took a breather and soaked in the views. He took a few casts here, but the fishing was not what it was at Malachite.
After resting for a bit, it was time to get going to the next lake. It was another mile or so, and he still needed to hike all the way back out before dark. The trail followed Copper Lake for quite a ways, giving some great views.
Next up was Little Heart Lake. This was a pretty small lake indeed, and it didn't have the best shore access. It was another mile or so to Big Heart Lake, but it wasn't in the cards for today. Here is Little Heart Lake.
Jared tried some casts from this rock, but didn't get even a single bite. It looked good at least.
So time to head back. It was getting to be late afternoon, which allowed for some great light on the waters of Copper Lake!
Here is a part of the trail just after leaving Copper Lake. Basically, a bunch of boulders lined up to hop across the outlet.
It was definitely getting late as he passed Trout Lake on the way out.
Of course, no trip up here would be complete without getting a picture of this giant douglas fir! It sits nearly right in the middle of the trail between Trout Lake and the trail head! It's hard to capture its size on camera, but you can see how big Jared's backpack looks sitting next to it!
Well, maybe we'll see you again next summer giant fir tree!
