Backpacking in Alpine Lakes Wilderness

In October 2013, John did a solo backpack trip within Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Washington (I was sidelined with a broken wrist). He was 60. This is his account of his trip.

My solo outing was supposed to be a three-day, two-night trip from Icicle Creek to Chain Lakes and Frosty Pass in Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Things did not go as planned, and this is a tale of two trips. One of the great virtues of retirement is time. One of the ways of using that virtue is the do-over. If you didn’t get it right the first time, you actually have the time to try again. So when I got weathered off of my first trip up to Chain Lakes (low cloud ceiling and very poor visibility) in late September, I was able to try again a few days later. However, even though I had beautiful blue skies the second time, I had other difficulties.

The plan for this loop was to go up to Chain Lakes on the first day, pass Doelle Lake and travel cross-country to Frosty Pass on day two, then go down Chatter Creek and out on the third day. Most of these pictures are from the second sunny trip. An easy forest walk brought me to a lovely confluence of French and Icicle Creeks. This is a popular easy overnight trip for those backpacking with small children.

The Icicle Creek Trail stays on the east side of the creek and crosses French Creek on an excellent bridge.

The trail meanders along Icicle Creek and only gains about 1,000 feet in the first 10 miles. It was moving quickly from fall to winter, though there was still some color left.

It had been raining heavily, so the real standout features in the forest were fungi, …

… some of the prettiest I’ve ever seen.

Looking closely at this fungus, it’s more like the stalactites in a cave than vegetation.

These pictures are good examples of using the stacked focus technique where multiple images are merged to have clear focus from both near and far. This really works well with these fungi. From my first trip, I learned that I really needed a tripod for the second trip.

Up close, this fungus really looks like it wants to eat you—I’ve never seen this much color in one fungus before.

Not long after all the fungi, the Chain Lakes Trail branches off the Icicle Creek Trail. It is a very steep trail up to Chain Lakes (2,000 feet in about two miles). I knew the trail well from the previous trip last week. I also knew there was no flat ground to camp on until I reached the lakes. I was feeling pretty good starting the last two miles with three hours of daylight. However, I encountered snow at about 4,000 feet.

The snow got deeper and deeper and my pace slowed and slowed. It started to get dark, but I still had about half of a mile to go and 500 feet vertically. I was trying to follow a trail with one to two feet of fresh snow by headlamp. I was post-holing and climbing over slide alder bent by the fresh snow. The higher I went, the deeper the snow got.

I eventually reached the first lake, but it was well after dark. There was two to three feet of fresh snow; a winter wonderland, but it was totally disorienting in the dark. My goal was to camp somewhere with tree protection at the second lake. I figured there would be less snow and I should have a good tent spot. The trail was now totally impossible to follow, so I traced the stream up to the second lake.

Lo and behold, I found a tent spot with only a few inches of snow, level and just big enough for my tiny tent. There was very little snow seen on branches above, so snow bombs should be minimal. It was cold. I knew the clock was ticking on how long my hands would function. My shelter went up quickly, and I post-holed over for water. I stripped off my boots and totally soaked socks and cooked ramen noodles from the welcome comfort of my sleeping bag. It was quite cold but I was still surprised when my boots froze in about 15 minutes. My NeoAir mattress worked great on the snow, and I slept well. My only discomfort came when it was time to slip on frozen boots to go out to pee.

The next day, the sun finally hit my tent and everything warmed up nicely. Thankfully, I didn’t have to deal with the frozen boots issue anymore.

The weather was quite a contrast to my first trip here with just a light snow.

In addition, the low cloud ceiling on the first trip provided more limited views of the middle Chain Lake …

… and the upper Chain Lakes. This was as high as I got on the first trip. Doelle Lake is up in the clouds and there would be no way to find the route to Frosty Pass in these conditions.

However, on my second trip, it was absolutely gorgeous out. But when I tried to walk around for some photos, I could barely move. I was nearly totally immobilized by the snow. Without snowshoes, I could only cover about 100 feet in five minutes, so getting up to the viewpoint above the lakes, just a quarter mile away, would take an hour or two.

So I took a few more photos, including this wonderful reflection in the first of the Chain Lakes …

… and decided to make a quick exit. When I crossed this creek, I considered making an attempt to get to Doelle Lakes, but the snow was just too much without snowshoes. I shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, these were the unpredictable Cascades.

The descent went quite a bit faster. I could even plunge step a lot of it. Looking at the trail in daylight, I’m amazed that I was able to cover so much of it after dark. On my way out, I discovered I did have other, fortunately unseen, company on this trip … illustrated by the fresh black bear paw print in the photo below.

When I finally hit dirt, I was so happy to move quickly that I just wanted to walk all of the way out. I’ve now covered this ten-mile section of the Icicle Creek Trail four times in the last week. I know it a little too well. I guess one do-over is not enough, so I’ll need to do this one again. Only next time I’ll be sure to bring my best friend, Jean (and not just because I want someone else to carry some of the gear).

All photos from this trip are on Flickr.