Alpine Lakes Wilderness Backpacking Trip

September 18, 2010 - Filed Under: News - 1 comment

getting ready to set up base campe at Malachite Lake

Meg and I returned last week from our amazing trip up to Washington.  We visited with Steve and Kelsey and Ryan and Sarah during a three-day backpacking excursion followed up by three days checking out Seattle, Bellevue, and Issaquah.

We flew into Seattle on Wednesday evening and headed to Steve and Kelsey’s to get our packs all together and ready to set out.  The next morning we drove into town for breakfast and immediately set off to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area.  We go up to the trail-head at around 11:00 AM or so and set out on our hike.

We apparently managed to time our trip perfectly, because the weather was absolutely beautiful for our entire hike, it had just stopped raining the day before and the rain stayed the whole time we were on the trail.  It literally started raining thirty minutes after we got down the mountain and back in the car .  On the first day of backpacking, we hiked from the trail-head up to Malachite lake and set up camp there for the first evening.  It was only 4 o’clock or so, but we wanted to get camp set up and start on our nice big dinner for the first night (pasta, with real tomato sauce and re-hydrated mushrooms!).  We awoke pretty early the second day and packed up one of our packs with water, snacks, a stove, and lunch, and then set back out on the trail to day hike all the way to the last lake of the trail, Big Heart Lake.  The guys took turns wearing the pack, and it was a very enjoyable hike up to Copper Lake, and then Little Heart Lake.

We knew the trail got pretty rough after Little Heart, so we decided to break for lunch on the rocks that tumble and gather next to Little Heart.  We cooked up mac’n cheese, refilled our water, and then set out again to finish the trail back to Big Heart.  To say that the trail changes drastically from this point on is an understatement.  It was definitely beautiful and a ton of fun, but the trail does indeed get pretty rough on that last leg.  We were very glad to not be carrying all of our packs.

the absolutely stunning Big Heart Lake

Once we got to Big Heart we took our time resting and refilling water, then taking a ton of pictures and exploring a bit.  Steve, Ryan, and I also decided we just had to jump in, and psyched ourselves up for it for 10 or 15 minutes before finally stripping down to our shorts and going for it.  The water was insanely cold (there was still snow on the ground on the other side of the lake), but it was also very refreshing and we were glad we went ahead and did it.  After drying off for a while, we took some more pictures beside the waterfall at the outflow of Big Heart, then headed back to base camp for our last night.

We got up early again on our last day and packed up our camp to head down the mountain.  We made really good time on the way down, and were back at the trail-head by noon.  On the way back into civilization, we stopped at a little roadside diner (I think it was called Bubba’s Roadhouse), for our first big meal not served from a camp pot .  It was definitely a good decision, I don’t think anyone left anything on their plate.

After we got back to Seattle, we checked into our hotels, showered up, and started our next couple days of exploring the Seattle area.

It was a great trip, and I can’t wait to go again .  Check out our pictures from the trail here.

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