Walks with Moss: Misadventures on Upper Lebar Creek (snow lake)

View looking up from the meadow

I‘ve been wanting to reach a lake that I can see on Google earth. I thought the route would be up past Staircase, but then I realized the lake is just north of Mount Tebo. So today I had a go at getting to the lake by heading up the Lebar creek drainage. I had a good GPS route in hand but instead of following my GPS I confidently headed up the wrong branch of Lebar creek, or something like that. But I did not realize my mistake until I got home and could see my track on my computer.

After leaving the road I headed up the hill following Lebar creek. The undergrowth was not too bad and the going was fairly easy for an off trail route. Before long I reached a beautiful meadow. The meadow had lush growth and I could hear water everywhere. There was a very strong smelling plant in the meadow that I think was in the mint family. I crossed the meadow on a meandering route and eventually started walking up a dry creek bed. Eventually I decided it was time to cut up the hill to the right and head into the timber. I turned way too soon.

Where I hoped to top the ridge

The woods were pretty but very steep. There were many signs of a fire going through there in the past. At one point I realized I was too far to the right so I went to the left and had to go down into and back up a small ravine and then back into the woods. Eventually I began to hit large rocks and the terrain was getting steep. I was still in the timber and it was hard to see where to go next. I was only ¼ of a mile from the saddle and only had 300 feet left to gain but the route began to get too precarious for me. I also had begun to get eerie feelings near the start of my hike. I decided to go back home.

It's been a long time since I've had such an eerie feeling in the woods. Before I left for my hike I told a friend that I was a bit scared but he was able to encourage me to keep going by telling me to frame it as a scouting mission. I don't have a lot of experience going off trail and this entire route was off trail so I think that is what was bothering me.

Now at home I can see that I went way off course. I might go back up there again with a better track log. I would love to have someone to do it with me.

3 miles of bush wacking with 1,000 feet elevation gain. I got a good all body workout. This was probably worth hiking 6-8 miles on a good trail.