Brothers Camp from Lena Creek Camp

Valley of the Silent Humans


Waterfall in the Valley



gyromitra, conk, shoe



Bed at Brothers Camp
(Blurry due to rain and fog on lens)


A pond next to a rock that looks like it was cut in half by something




Old moss-covered rock slide. Did this slide happen during the subduction zone earthquake in the 1700's?



Trail is overgrown at my geocache site in the Valley




Cedar dotted cliffs in the fog


Brothers Climbing Camp from Lena Creek Camp


We camped at Lena Creek again this weekend. Lena Creek was not my first choice for camping but it was Father’s day weekend so I went without to much complaint. The road to the other nearby trails is still washed out; my only real choice was to go up the Lower Lena Lake trail again. . I hiked to Lower Lena Lake last week so this week I wanted to go further.
..
I walked from my campsite at Lena Creek and arrived at the trail head at 10am. It was raining so the trail was not quite as crowded as usual. I leap fogged with a group of girl scouts for half of the hike then they kindly let me pass them at Lunch Rock. It only took me 1 hour and fifteen minutes to make it to the rock. After leaving the rock the trail passes by shoreline campsites. Most of the campsites were filled and the folks up there seemed to be camped very comfortably. The camps up there looked more comfortable than our car campsite down below. I would have pitched a tarp over our table so we could sit outside at the table and stay dry. But our table was covered with dirt and mud thanks to the antics of my 5 year-old. There so there was no point in pitching a tarp over the muddy wet table.

I arrived at the Brother’s climbing camp at about 2:30. The rain never let up for the entire hike up but it really started falling when I got to the camp. By this point I was also pretty tired and I was getting clumsy and a little disoriented. I lost the trail so I headed back toward a tent I saw in the campground and found backpackers outside the tent. They had just finished climbing The Brothers and they reported that the route finding was hard and the way was covered with snow near the top. They also pointed me in the right direction. The trail turns left at the campground and follows a tributary up. I followed the trail about 1/10 of a mile past the campground just so I could see something new. I had hiked up to the campground in the past so I wanted to go just a bit further. But I did not go far because the trail started getting steep and I was getting tired.

I walked back down to the camp and ate my lunch and brewed my tea. Lunch was cambert cheese with crackers, PJ tips pyramids tea and an organic pop-tart. All these items came from a local discount store. Ever since this stored opened we have been eating like Queens and Kings. Right before I headed back down the backpackers headed back down the trail and a new set of backpackers arrived.

I walked back down to my car camp in the rain, taking a few breaks to ease the random aches and pains I was having and to take some pictures. I did not take any pictures on the hike up because my camera is not water proof and I had hoped the rain would stop by the time I headed down.

When I arrived back at the Lower Lena Lake trail head I found the ranger writing parking tickets and I could hear an awful howling noise coming from my campground. I almost yelled at the howling campers from the safe anonymity of the bushes but I decided not to.

It is a good thing that I did not yell as it was my own family that was doing the howling. As I approached my campsite I found my husband and daughter on their way up to meet me on the trail. My husband was a bit disappointed that I had arrived back at the campsite before they could reach the trail.

I finished my hike at 6:45 and I rested up for about an hour before heading back up the trail with my family. We only went to the second switchback before my husband was exhausted and called it quits.

I usually try to hike about a mile in the evening after I have done a long hike. It seems to make me less sore in the morning. This was a trick that I learned when I was a grade-school cross-country runner. I don’t know if the trick actually works but it seems to help. I’m not as sore as I expected to be this morning and I don’t think I have done this much mileage since last summer.

14.4 miles
2400 feet elevation gain
61 miles on my waterproof red shoes now.



Dirty litle hoobah that covered our table (and most everything else in camp) with mud



Lower Lena Lake raindrops



Why was this healthy tree at Lena Lake Camp murdered?



The meter maid left a nasty surprise for a hiker. Tthe Lena Lake Trailhead is the only trail head that I've ever seen rangers writing tickets. This car was one of many ticketed for not displaying a parking permit.




Tracklog



Elevation Profile