Secret Lake near the Lake

Lake bagging in the swamp

I’m exploring a new to me area that I don’t want to say too much about, because it seems to be free from crowds on the weekdays.    I’m sure that some of my dear readers will recognize this area though.

It was going to be a hot day and I was worried about taking Patches on a logging road hike.  Patches is prone to heat stroke and she has not yet had her summer haircut.  I hoped that there would be enough water along the route to keep her cool.  I missed my starting point because I could not see the old road, but I found a nearby road that connected with the road I wanted to be on.

Patches stuck in mud

I tried to take a short cut through a swamp but soon thought better of that.  The swamp was not very wet but it was filled with vine maple and devil’s club.

To get to the lake I had in mind, I had to cross a creek twice but I did not mind, as getting wet was a good way to stay cool.

When I reached the lake I was happy with what I saw, a nice clean campground with TP and clean outhouses.  People must go there a lot, but we did not see another soul all day long.  The campground is closed for camping and it’s a three mile walk to reach it, but it still had signs up admonishing people to display a pass in their car.  It makes me sad that our infrastructure is all failing while money is spent on overseas wars that enrich US corporations and leave the common person with nothing.

I found a flag hanging in the tree in the campground.

I hung out at the lake taking pictures for quite a while.  I was in no hurry to go back home to the heat.  After I left the campground I explored other access points to the lake.  I discovered a nice shady spot next to the lake with spearmint growing in it.  I sat in the nice shady spot and picked some spearmint.   While I sat, I was bothered by horseflies, black flies and a few mosquitoes.

On the way back to my car I checked out another little lake that I could see on my GPS.  This little lake was wonderful.  The lake had a gravel shore rather than a yucky mucky shore, so I went it.  The temperature of the water was just right; I was able to walk right into the lake.  I stood in lake water up to my neck while Patches swam in circles around me.  It was so much fun to swim with my pup.

At one point Patches or I startled a snake into the lake and later when I was swimming I saw that the snake had gone clear out to the middle of the lake.  I hope the snake made it out okay.  It was a little unnerving to have a snake swimming with me.

At about 5pm I started my hike out in soaking wet clothes.  Thanks to being soaking wet, I did not get to hot.  I did however get very light headed from lack of food and maybe the sunlight was a culprit too.  I am desperately trying to lose weight, so I don’t pack enough food on my hikes.  I really struggle to lose weight at home with the fridge nearby and with always having to cook really fattening foods for  my dying spouse.  If I go hiking far from the fridge, with too little food then I have no choice but to lose weight.

One hike out I found the very rare plant Hemitomes congestum

On the way out I found the road I had meant to start on and I hiked on it until I reached the main road and then I hiked back to my car on the main road.  I will be back to this delightful area.  I really had a good time on this hike.

7.5 miles with 200 feet elevation gain.

Lake Bagging

Strawberry Lake

Off to a secret but not so secret lake.  My first time at this lake.  We got caught in one heck of a hail storm while were were on an exposed ledge.  I got soaked from the waist down as I had only packed a rain coat.  A freak lightening and thunder and hail storm was not in the forecast.

This pretty little lake could easily be loved to death so I won't reveal the location.  A combination of too many braggarts and the internet are ruining many places that were only known to locals.   The Vance Creek Bridge is one example.   Some people are more concerned with their egos than anything else.  These people should stay in the city and join a track team or a pickle ball league or something.  Leave the mountains for those of us who actually care about them.

 And yes, I do know that loggers love the woods and the mountains.  I'm not talking about loggers or anglers  here, I'm talking about people who put on track suits and then brag that they found all the secret spots and boost their egos by providing track logs to them.  They don't care about the secret spots or how fragile they are, they only care about bragging.

Sadly people have chosen to place two grave markers at this lake.  I disapprove.  If every person who ever died had a grave marker in the wilderness there would be no wilderness left.

Philontis moss with sporophytes

Polytrichum moss with sporophytes

Jacob's shooting star flowers

Fontinalis aquatic moss

reflections and stripes

Flat Lake aka Rock Pond

Flat Lake

I had kind of a rough time today. I went to a lake I have never been to and I did not find that trail but that was okay because I had an outlet stream to follow, so no worries there.   Surprisingly the lake was not at all frozen, I think it is spring fed.

But after I had been at the lake for awhile I reached for my GPS(r) and it was not there in my pack pocket. I knew I had lost it while brush crashing and following my exact route out of there was not going to be easy.  If I had been hiking on a trail it would have been an easy thing to back track and find my GPS. 

I went back to the brush and searched and searched for it for about an hour  I kept trying to follow my same route but then I saw some red ribbons and I knew I was off my route.  I had not seen those red ribbons on the way in.  The terrain was a little rough, but I scoured the hillside for about an hour and then gave up.  I went ahead  and walked around the lake like I had planned on doing and then went back to the outlet and had tea.  I was not happy but I did not let it stop me from hiking around the lake or having tea.

Frozen mushrooms at the inlet of the lake

 I could see the trail out and when it was time to go I really wanted to follow it but I decided to once again try to replicate my brush crashing route to get out of there in hopes of finding my GPS(r) I followed my mental landmarks to know where I had been. My landmarks were mushrooms and those damn red ribbons I lost my landmarks again near the red ribbons but then on about my 5th try I saw a conk that I recognized so I knew I was back on my original route. 

Then 15 feet from the conk I saw something that told me I was on the same route without a doubt. It was a piece of orange duct tape, the tape was attached to a lanyard and the lanyard was attached to my GPS(r) . I kissed it more passionately then I have probably ever kissed a lover. I was so happy to have my GPS back (I've never lost it before) with my GPS back I went back to the lake and followed the trail out.

Decommissioned road

The road was decommissioned about 1/4 of a mile from the trail to the lake but it was not torn up too bad and there was a path left open that was free of logs.  If all decommissioned roads were this nice for hiking I would not complain about them quite so much.

2 miles with 800 feet elevation gain.  It should have been just 150 feet, looking for my GPS added a lot of ups and downs to this hike.

Lake pano with strange perspective

The little lake that you can see from the top of Mount Ellinor

Photo I took of the lake in 2010.  I took this photo with a media loan camera
on the  day that I hiked up Mount Ellinor to catch the sunrise.

There is a little lake that you can see when you are on the summit of Mount Ellinor.  You kind of have to stick your head over the edge to see it.  I've never seen anyone down there.   Years ago I decided that I wanted to go down there.  Years ago I did not have anyone to do these crazy off trail trips with, but now I do.  So once again I teamed up with Phil and we went on a slide alder, devil's club, lake bagging, route finding adventure.

The route was only 2 miles but it took us five hours to reach the lake.  It looked so much easier on the topo map, but doesn't it always?

Trail looked good at first, it's 9:50AM

Then it turned into a boulder field with no obvious trail

More mossy boulders with big gaping caves under them

Then the trail turned to brush

Then more brush with rocks we could stand on to look out over the brush

We lost a lot of time route-finding and stopping to rest 

We have to go up the meadow  yes,  but do we really have to cross that notch?

Standing on a big rock in the meadow trying to find a less brushy route

We had to brush crash for about an hour, neither of us had gloves

and there was a lot of Devil's Club and Goose Berry thorns to deal with.

I lost my gloves on the way up and Phil forgot to pack gloves.

Then we tried to crucify ourselves by  bouldering in a slimy creek bed to get over the notch

Tricky when wet

Looking back down where we came from while standing in the creek

Out of the creek and into the woods there were flags of many colors

the orange ones are mine, don't follow them, we found a much better route down

Big Lion's mane, there were three on this log, I only took one

Patches rests on top of a log, since she is at my eye level I snap a shot

Time for more bouldering, Patches struggled here

There was a field of big boulders right before the lake
the orange speck in the middle is me.  Phil took this picture.

we hit a big flat rocky area just below Mount Washington

We found a grassy area where big animals had flattened  grass while sleeping

At about 3:45 we found the lake.  Mount Ellinor is the peak on the left

Another view of the lake and Mount Ellinor, it was bigger than I expected

We realize that we have no time to stay at the lake, it took us 5 hours to get there

and there are only 3 hours of daylight left. There is no part of the route that we want to do in the dark.

We at the very least, want to make it through the slide alder and devil's club before darkness sets in.

Found another one of these on an easier route on the way down

Back down into the slippery creek bed Phil fell and nearly did 

the splits right before I took this photo.  Patches is barking her head off

because she is not sure how to get down and she wants us to hurry up.

The sweet light

The clouds are chasing us down the Mountain

It's 7:10 and the dark sets in just as we hit the big mossy boulder field.

There are giant holes under the boulders and we don't want to fall in.

It's time to put away the camera, put on the head lamp and cross our fingers.

We lose the trail many times because there is no trail.  Brush crashing by headlamp is

difficult because you can only see the branches in your face and nothing else.

At 8PM I lose the trail  yet again and I look around with my head lamp and then
 I see  see my license plate glowing on the road ten feet away from me

How to make goddess laugh?
Tell her your plans.

Our actual route the long straight line is where I turned off my GPS on the way

down in order to save battery power

 Home now and stiff and sore, scratched and bruised.  Tomorrow I'll start pulling the devils club out of my hands, I'm too tired to deal with it today.