[jaysway]

I took a little bit of time off to do my first larch hike of the season. I knew that this was an early time to go, and without recent trip reports for the area I assumed that larches would be far from peak, but enough would hopefully be turning to get some gold or electric yellow color up high. This gamble mostly paid off, and being back in the presence of turning larches is a comforting feeling, almost like coming home after a year away. Like many trips, I already want to return and check out places that I did not get a chance to see such as Hoodoo Pass and Mount Bigelow, Merchant's Basin, and Sunrise Lake. If you want to see what the area looks like with larches closer to peak, I recommend checking out Lazarus's report. Thursday I camped at Boiling Lake, and reached my goal (barely) of making it to the top of Horsehead Pass for sunset. The only bummer was I got to Upper Eagle Lake late enough that it was almost completely in shadows. I would love to come back and spend more time exploring the Upper Eagle area earlier in the day.

Upper Eagle, I want to come back and see it lit up

Tarn near Upper Eagle

Almost at Horsehead Pass, my goal for sunset

Boiling Lake

Friday There were two other people camping at Boiling Lake, and once they packed out I didn't encounter another person for the entire day. I scrambled Cheops, which was fun, and enjoyed lounging up there for over two hours. I watched sunset at Chelan Summit, and camped as the pass overlooking Cooney Lake SE of Switchback. It was a cold night.

It was cloudy in the morning, so I slept in at Boiling Lake

Heading up Wiebe Pass on a well-defined trail

Cheops, getting up here was a fun scramble

On the other side of Wiebe Pass

Near a large horse camp

I left the trail and hiked XC to the pass

At the pass between Old Maid and Switchback

Sunset at Chelan Summit

My model for the evening

Saturday I woke up before sunrise and hiked up Switchback. On my hike out, I encountered my first people at of the day at Cooney Lake, and then saw lots of people (mostly mountain bikers) hiking in as I hiked out.

Sunrise while hiking up Switchback

Looking NW from Switchback

Sunrise Lake was in and out of the clouds

Hiking down to Cooney Lake. This section had the best larch forest of the entire hike

Cooney Lake

On my way out, until next time...

[Pyrites]

Uh oh. Do we have a bird entry for the calendar?

[Bowregard]

Great Photos jaysway, Your Ptarmigan photo reminded me of an experience on our Stiletto Lake trip. We were approaching the Lake basin from below with my daughter in the lead and her friend close behind and me pulling up the rear. As we traversed the slope they startled a Ptarmigan right next to them. Thank goodness the slope wasn't steep because I swear they were so startled they would have fallen off otherwise.

[jaysway]