by John Schultheis     Photos

On a hot sunny Saturday in July a small band of adventurers met for the second installment of the 2003 Après Backpacking series. This was scheduled to be the Intermediate level backpacking trip in the series. The plan was to hike several miles back into the Desolation Wilderness and camp at one of the backcountry lakes. Leader and Instructor Ed Martin was unable to get a permit for the original location, so the hike ended up being shorter than originally planned. We ended up camping in the Tamarack Lake area of the Desolation Wilderness.

We met at the General Store at Echo Lake at 1:00 pm on Saturday July 19th. With one late cancellation we had only 5 participants; Leaders Ed Martin and Helga Campbell, experienced backpackers Ed Pease and Dawn LoBaugh and beginner John Schultheis. Dawn is not a member of Après but she heard about our trips and signed up for the adventure.

Echo Lake was jam packed with cars, and some of us ended up having to park a half a mile up the road from the parking area.

We set out about 1:30 pm, taking the water taxi across both parts of Echo Lake. The lakes and the surrounding mountains were absolutely gorgeous. After docking at the north end, we set out on the Pacific Crest Trail heading North.

We hiked a few miles, passing Tamarack Lake along the way. We broke into groups to search out a campsite large enough for 5 tents near Ralston and Cagwin Lakes. We managed to lose Dawn for a little while, be we eventually settled on an area near the shore of Ralston Lake. Ed Martin and Helga set up on a rocky ledge near the lake, while the rest of us set up a little further away, in amongst the trees.

That evening the wind whipped up. It was way too windy and late to swim by the time we had everything all set up. The wind also made it tough to get dinner cooked, but we built a small windbreak for the stove. The good news was that the wind kept the mosquitoes at bay.

After dinner Ed taught me how to hang food from a tree branch to be safe from bears.

As the evening went on, and the shadows grew, the wind died down and the mosquito air force moved in. They were relentless. Finally everyone went to "bed" just to get away from them, even though it was still light out.

Sunday morning we awoke to clear blue skies and a glass smooth lake. We had some coffee and a swim and then set about cooking breakfast.

After some relaxing, we headed out for a hike around 10:00 am. We hiked several miles to the Lake of the Woods and then a few more miles beyond to Aloha Lake.

There were lots of pretty flowers and glorious alpine meadows. We also found large patches of snow still standing in places. Of course we had to stop and play in the snow. After all, we are a ski club!

At Aloha Lake we found a great spot for lounging and lunching. Four of us swam, and some of us did some "island hopping" on the lake. We relaxed, soaked up the sun and ate our lunches.

As the midday ran to afternoon the clouds kept growing and getting more and more ominous looking. We finally headed back towards camp at about 1:30 pm. On the return hike the clouds changed to a dark gray and we began to hear the rumbles of distant thunder. As we pressed on the thunder kept getting closer until we were seeing the flashes of lightning and hearing the crackle of nearby thunder. Our pace quickened as we headed back to base. We arrived before the rains around 3:00 pm. I dug a moat around my tent, while the others moved into Helga’s tent for an early “happy hour”.

Ed Pease broke camp to head home early. He was just heading out at 3:30 when the rains hit us.

The thunder and lightning were very dramatic, but the storm didn’t last long. By 4:15 it was all over. The skies cleared and it was beautiful. The waterfall running hundreds of feet down the sheer granite face across the lake tripled in size and two more narrow falls appeared on the west face of Mt Ralston. We enjoyed to sunshine and the suddenly clear skies.

The air was shattered by the constant hum of an airplane circling overhead, and a large helicopter hovering a few miles away. The lightning had struck a tree above Echo Lake and started a small fire. The helicopter was scooping water from Echo Lake and dumping it onto the small fire.

After snacking for a while, we had dinner and relaxed as the sun faded over the ridge, casting an orange glow on the distance mountains ridges. As the sun set and the sky grew still, the mosquitoes came out in force again. Once again they drove us "indoors" at an early hour.

Monday morning was clear and bright with no wind at all. Again we followed the rituals of coffee and swimming followed by breakfast. We reluctantly packed up everything to head back to "civilization". The entire time we were being watched by a Pica, a rare mouse-like creature that was anxious for us to leave so that he could scavenge our site. Some of the group took one last swim in Ralston Lake before we hit the trail at 10:15 am.

We passed a lot of day hikers on our way back along the PCT to Echo Lake. In a short time we were back at the dock waiting for the water taxi to take us back to the Echo Chalet. At the Chalet we splurged on ice cream and we traded in our hiking boots for more comfortable shoes.

After a bit of shuttling gear and people, we said our goodbyes and headed home a little after noon. It was good to be heading back to the comforts of home, but we all enjoyed the time we spent in the wilds of the Desolation Wilderness.

Photos