Chelan Sawtooths

If I had the choice to be one living thing I think I would choose to be a Larch tree perched on a granite ledge overlooking a beautiful alpine lake.  On the ledge I'd never have contact with people and it would take a direct lightning strike to set me a blaze.  Sure I'd have to deal with frigid winters, sometimes strong winds, the heat of summer days, and my foundation slowly eroding away, but I can't think of a more peaceful and majestic life... can you?

Last week my dad and I completed our annual backpacking trip together.  We ventured into the Chelan Sawtooths to an area that neither I nor my dad had been to before.  We spent an entire day at each of our primary destinations, Bernice and Cub Lakes, which was a needed rest having carried 50+ pounds in our packs.  There is a decent trail to Bernice Lake but it is unmapped and not maintained by the Forest Service... unfortunately the trail is about two continuous miles of steep ascent :(  When we left Bernice our route took us down the Prince Creek trail and eventually up another very steep ascent into Cub Lake.  The fishing activity was good in both lakes but my dad was disappointed in the size (not the 17"+ monsters he's seeking). Cub Lake was probably overpopulated because it had smaller skinner trout which meant we had to fish longer to have a proper dinner.

We covered 35 miles in five days of full-pack hiking and had good weather except for our final day which we spent at Upper Eagle Lake—it got really windy making for a colder and mostly sleepless night.  Fortunately, the six and a half miles back to the trailhead were all downhill.

This was another good hiking adventure although I'm still not sold on the week long duration because it means carrying about 10 pounds more in food, fuel, and clothing.  One very nice thing was not having to spend so much time in the car getting there.  I met my dad in Pateros where I left my car all week.  After all of the "fun" I've had with my car this year, I had a few nightmares about what could be happening to it but they didn't keep me up all night because I knew there was nothing I could do about it.  I was relieved to find a bird poop the only thing that happened to it while I was away.