Day 1, 13.4 miles to camp (8.6 road walk + 4.8 trail)
I was getting sent to Seattle for work and had to inspect some conveyor lines at an Amazon warehouse. The only time it was shut down was 1am-4am so it was set to do this on a Wednesday night, again on Thursday night if needed, then fly home Friday morning. I said “Nay” to that! I’m squeezing a hike in and then will catch the red-eye flight home on Sunday night.
My first choice was the Enchanted Lakes but those are on a permit system and completely booked. I also hoped to find a loop trail and somewhere near a main road to make getting a hitch easier. Then I stumbled across the Alpine Lake High Route which is very close to Skykomish. As a bonus, there is a daily bus from Seattle to Skykomish and then I could hike 6 miles to the trailhead. A good friend, PCT + CT Thru-Hiker, trail name Snaps, could pick me up on Sunday and take me to the airport. Everything was falling into place!
10-minute Extended Movie of Day 1
I really wish I got a shot of myself zipping through downtown Seattle on a Lime scooter, with my full backpacking gear, including bag of chips strapped to the outside, but you can’t win them all. I spent the two hour bus ride studying the couple of topo maps I printed out and was feeling confident about the trail. I am a Triple Crowner after all! I hopped off at Skykomish, felt the rush of memories from my PCT thru-hike come flooding back, and then began my road walk. The first mile was on the busy Highway 2 but it soon turned off onto Foss River Road which was immediately more peaceful. It then followed the riverbanks of the Foss River which was gushing with recent snow melt caused from the area’s Heat Dome. I decided to take a break at a massive train bridge spanning the Foss River and attempted to go for a swim but the river was too cold and aggressive. As I was leaving, a train barreled passed overhead!
A few cars passed me on the road and in hindsight, I wish I tried for a hitch. Again, I was being sophomoric and thought I had all the time in the world. Soon enough, I reached the trailhead and took a quick break to let my shirt dry out, the Heat Dome was real. Then, I began the actual hike. It was nice to transition to soft dirt tread instead of gravel road and all of the trees and plants were a deep, lush, green from all of the recent snow melt. Moss covered everything, massive trees towered above, and ferns blanketed the forest floor. I stopped on a footbridge to admire the rapids, chuckle at trees growing out of dead trees, and set up my tripod to get a photo of me hugging a particularly large pine. I also log hopped across the stream to get some long exposure shots of a little waterfall. I eventually made it to Trout Lake where I saw a beaver swimming around and then decided to stop for a swim myself.
Let the hike begin, ONWARD!
Trees growing out of trees!
Trout Lake.
There were a good bit of hikers camped near this lake, as it is right before a pretty grueling ascent. I powered up the slope and soon saw a massive waterfall that was in the shadow of the neighboring hills so a long exposure shot would be perfect. Of course, after every switchback, there was an even better vantage point. I was very happy to be conquering this climb in the shadows because it was plenty hot without direct sunshine. It tops out at Copper Lake which had numerous snowmelt falls on the far side and it was a scene straight out of Glacier NP. I was having so much more fun than my coworker who was flying back home at the moment! A few campsites near the lake were already taken and I tried to push on to Little Heart Lake but found a nice flat boulder on the way. I rock-hopped down to it, set camp, cooked dinner, and fell asleep real fast.
getting the shot video