Waptus River/Lake - Washington Cascades

[X-Lem]

Here goes - my 1st trip report. Hopefully I didn't overload it with pictures. It was tough to narrow it down to just a few.

July 5 - 8, 2010

Location: Waptus River/Lake, Trail #1310. Roughly 15 miles north of Roslyn, Wa. Central Washington Cascade mountain range, Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, Cle Elum Ranger District, Alpine Lakes Wilderness area:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/wenatchee/re...e-elum/trails/

For the TV trivia buffs - what TV series was filmed in Roslyn, WA in the early 90's?

A sign at the trailhead stated that the hiker bridge crossing the Waptus River was out and that we would need to cross the river using the horse ford. Talking to other hikers who were returning from the lake we learned that the water was around knee deep and there was a rope stretched across the river to hang on to. We proceeded on without fear...

Hiking partners at the trailhead - my wife and our dog Gracie. This was my wife's 3rd backpacking trip and Gracie's 2nd. We still have lots to learn but what a classroom!


A swimming hole at the trailhead. The water was extremely cold.


It's a fairly easy trail -no switchbacks and would be easier if we were in better shape. It is 11 miles into the lake. We didn't hit the trail until 3pm so only hiked in about half way and spent the 1st night next to the river.


Day 2 - I'm the early riser so I get up to make the coffee. My wife likes being served in bed.


There were serveral of these wildflowers along the way but i don't know what they are. Anybody??


Gracie carrys her own food and sleeping pad. If I learn how to make gear I'll need to make her a hammock.


On the 2nd day we started seeing some snow capped peaks.


Stay tuned. The best pictures are next - the rest of Day 2, Day 3 and 4.

[PaulSiegel]

Twin Peaks was filmed there. And your pictures aren't working on for me.

[X-Lem]

I'll try to figure out where I messed up on the pictures... They were showing in the preview but my attachments are now gone. Hmmm....

[X-Lem]

Day 2 cont... arrived at the lake around noon and promptly picked out the best site at the lake. There was 1 other couple there that were packing up to leave and a small group of Boy Scouts who had picked a spot by the lake further up the trail away from the main camping area. We were basically by ourselves. We quickly set up camp so that we could relax the rest of the day.


I need to get myself setup with ridgelines as the trees were a pretty good distance apart and caused the hammock to squeeze us more than I like. After getting my Skeeter Beeter hammock hung I gently sat down in it to test that my straps wouldn't slip. Somehow I missed the hammock and ended up catching the attached bug net instead and found myself with my behind on the ground, tearing the bug net zipper area. This is the first time I've activated the hammock ejector seat. It works flawlessly. Kind of embarrassing but only my wife saw... and she understands... I'm still working on earning a good trail name and we'll not discuss this episode any further.

Back to the important stuff - more pics! So here's the view from our hammocks. You can see the outline of my feet in the lower left corner of the picture. Not to shabby!



And thanks to this great website, here is my first DIY project in action - the infamous Fancy Feast stove. Worked great and will be a permanent addtion to my gear.



Day 3 - sunrise. Totally incredible.



Apparently this morning coffee thing is going to be 'expected'. My wife got a little chilled the first night because I'm only using regular width sleeping pads. So, I decided to try the newbie, poor man's peapod and put our hammocks thru our Kelty sleeping bags. There wasn't much for moving around once zipped in but it was toasty warm. Night time temperatures were in the low 40s. I now understand the underquilt/overquilt craze. Time to start saving my nickels.



Didn't get a single bite while fishing but with that view it didn't bother us much.


Day 3 - Sunset



Coming soon - Day 4 - the hike out.

[Salty]

Beautiful looking place. The flower is columbine or aquilegia, if you prefer the latin.

Salty

[X-Lem]

Day 4 - the hike out. We arrived at the horse ford to cross the river and found that the rope that had been strung across the river had been taken down and was coiled up at our feet. On top of that, because of the hot weather, the river was now 5 - 6 inches deeper than when we had hiked in. A temporary mental blow but we decided that I would cross the river with the rope and re-tie it to the far side.



Once the rope was reattached (and I could feel my toes again) I made my way back to escort Gracie across. She couldn't touch bottom so I was having to hang onto her so that she didn't get swept away.



Once Gracie was across I waded part way back out into the river to be ready in case my wife needed assistance. Did I mention the water was ice cold? She made it just fine. Since she had the camera I made her go back out part way in the calm area by the bank so that I could take a picture. No picture - It didn't happen, right?



We hiked the whole 11 miles out that day which was my wife's longest single day hike. It got around 10 degrees warmer than the forcast so we had to consume plenty of water. I'm guessing it was pushing 90 degrees during the hottest part of the day. We had the thoughts of ice cold refreshments back at the car driving us on.

We stopped to refill our water containers at this waterfall. It felt like it was 20 degrees cooler sitting there. Refreshing.


We came across a forest ranger on horse back who was headed up to the lake and told her about the rope across the river being taken down. She said she had removed it because it could be a problem for the horses getting across. We told her she would have to take it down again.

Turned out to be an awesome trip and may have to make a trip thru that area again in the future. I try to make each hike I plan with my wife better than the previous one. I think the bar is set pretty high on this one.

Hope you enjoy the trip report.
Dan

[X-Lem]

Beautiful looking place. The flower is columbine or aquilegia, if you prefer the latin.

Salty

Thanks Salty. Nature creates such cool stuff.

[X-Lem]

Twin Peaks was filmed there. And your pictures aren't working on for me.

Close but no cigar. According to wikipedia.org, Twin Peaks was filmed in Snoqualmie and North Bend, WA. About an hour from Roslyn. There was a different tv series filmed in Roslyn.

[FarStar]

Northern Exposure was filmed in Rosalyn.

By the way, columbine flowers are edible -- very sweet.

[PaulSiegel]

Shoot, I was close. Excellent Trip report.