Pratt Lake

We got out of work at 2:30 on Friday and were hiking at 4:30 on the Pratt Lake Trail. We seemed to start out slow, but the miles slowly peeled away as we gained 2,300 feet to the saddle between Granite and Bandara Mountains, then dropped into the Pratt Lake basin.

We found a sweet campsite right on the lake and Rex took up guard duty to protect against the ‘enemies’. In this case, the enemy was troop 664, twelve year olds all, from South Seattle. They were pretty well behaved kids, and just far enough away that we really didn't hear them much, but Rex on watch ‘just in case’ (of what we weren’t really sure).

Jodi made a real nice meal on my nearly 50 year old primus camp stove and we began to slowly unwind on a Friday night in the wilderness, guarded by Rex and comforted by each other, a nice chianti, and some bourbon. The sun gave way to twilight and then the moon came out in spectacular fashion. Owing to the wine and the bourbon, the moon wasn’t digitally captured, but was certainly enjoyed and is etched in the memory banks.



The evening was pretty comfortable. We learned from the earlier backpacking experience. Better pack, light weight sleeping bag and two sleeping pads. All of which made for a nice nights sleep.  Rex did provide a little excitement during the night.



The morning was spectacular and Starbucks instant coffee sleeves make backpacking mornings WONDERFUL!!

We did see two trail runners at about 7:30 in the morning and many more throughout the day.  They all were taking the loop route from Melwaka lake (see the post two weeks ago).  It was a bit odd waking up in what some would say the wilderness, but at the same time be on somebody's jogging route.

The trail runners we would encounter throughout the day were a diverse, but impressive group. We saw perhaps 20 in all.  One couple was gearing up for a race in Italy that was over 180 miles long with nearly 60,000 feet of vertical elevation in 8 days.  Wow. 

We took an excursion off to lower Tuscohatchie lake and found much better campsites. Nobody was there and that’s our next destination, perhaps next weekend.  We also ran into a ranger and after the obligatory 'put yer dog on a a leash' request, he told us of a fishermans trail to upper Tuscohatchie lake as well as a story about 'My Lake', that apparently has an old trappers cabin. Perhaps some exploring is needed....

A great start to the weekend. And it’s only half way done!!

Bandara's Backside

We took a 10 mile, one way trip around Bandara’s backside. We’d been planning this mini trek for about a week as an alternative to an overnight backpacking trip. We parked one car at the Pratt Lake trailhead then drove the other to the Ira Spring trailhead off of exit 45.

The trail follows an old logging road and rises gently, but after a half mile or so departs from the road and rises sharply up Bandara. The steady incline stays constant until the cutoff for Bandara’s peak is reached. And this is where the wild flowers, especially the bear grass were in full bloom.

We took the Mason lake branch at the cutoff and mercifully the incline stopped as we reached the lake. The lake was warm and had some pretty cool campsites. There was even a sign to a ‘toilet’. A fellow was swimming in the lake, but it seemed pretty buggy.

We pushed on and started to run into the last of the snow on the trail. There’s a very cool rock formation that you could camp under if you had to and some small lakes.

This part of the hike was the most enjoyable. The trail stayed roughly at the 4600 foot level and wound around an alpine meadow. While there were occasional jets way overhead, there were no man made sounds. The dim roar of I90 was completely absent and except for the occasional planes, it was silent. We passed Rainbow lake (another nice spot to camp), the cutoff for Island lake, then slowly descended from the alpine meadow back into the forest and stayed well above Olallie lake as we rounded the basin containing it.

Now on the Pratt Lake trail, we slowly descended into the forest for the final 2 mile drop to the Pratt Lake trailhead.

All in all a great day. Other than the wild flowers on Bandara, there was no single ‘wow’ feature of the hike, but taken as a whole, this is a great hike through many different zones. Forest, sub alpine, alpine – each elevation has it’s own ecosystem and while the transition between them is gradual, each is distinctly different. The absence of sound and the smell of the wildflowers delighted the senses.

One way hikes are different. You are going somewhere. Familiar tracks are not retraced.

Need to do this one again.

Melakwa Lake

This trail had been on the list for some time, but other hikes and events seem to nudge it out each time. Saturday morning became the day to cross this one off the list.



The hike starts at the crowded Denny Creek trail head. All shapes and sizes and quite a number of kids use this as the parking lot for Franklin Falls as well as the ‘Denny Creek water slide’.

The trail starts innocently enough and is well maintained for the first mile and a half or so. Along the way the trail goes under the west bound lanes of I-90. It’s eerie and nearly unreal to be hiking through a well developed forest then see these monster columns rise from the forest floor supporting 4 lanes of traffic a couple of hundred feet in the air.

Shortly after walking under I-90, the trail drops into the Denny Creek water slide and all the sounds of many kids enjoying themselves.

After crossing Denny Creek, the trail climbs to Keekwulee Falls, which are really nice.

After the falls, the scenery stays great, but the trail gets ugly. The climb just doesn’t stop and between the roots and the rocks you really need to watch every step. Or so it seems. Unlike other trails, it just seemed that quite a bit of energy and concentration went to footing.

The wild flowers were really nice and we didn’t take enough pictures of them. There were some purple trilliums that were stunning.



The trail rises with many switchbacks, about half of them nearly underwater, to Hemlock Pass. After clearing the pass the trail drops gently to Melakwa lake. The lake was just becoming unfrozen. About a third of it still had ice, but it was melting fast. The water was nearly air-clear and very cold.

 

A great hike. We were tired at the end and Rex got in the back seat and collapsed. A good day.