[Yana]

We started out from the Salmon la Sac area on Waptus River Trail, which, after meandering for a few miles gets to the Waptus River and follows it to Waptus Lake. This trail is very mellow and easy (as easy as almost 10 miles can be with an overnight pack). After you get to the lake, the trail takes you along the northern shore a ways before you reach the turnoff for Spade Lake. This is where the fun begins (or ends, depending on your perspective). The trail to Spade, though a measly four or so more miles, is rather rough. My brand new Green Trails map classifies it as a maintained trail, but judging by the 83 deadfalls in the first two miles, I kind of doubt it. The first mile and a half is the worst, most obstacle ridden (brush, deadfall, straight uphill). After that it lets up a little and it's a pretty good trail, with spectacular views and flowers opening up the farther you go. I found the view to the huge slabby spire of Bear's Breast particularly stunning. However, Spade Lake is very elusive. Due to the local topography, you can't see it until you're practically on top of it (even though you can see the rocky outlet from a mile away). The lake is surrounded by these funky rock ribs that make travel near the lake... er... slow. The last mile is a killer, with seemingly never ending ups and downs (I suspect the 13 or so preceeding miles probably helped). It was just us and the birds for the night. Bad weather moved in Friday evening and though it never rained, it misted most of the night and through Saturday, with just a few patches of blue sky to taunt us. Saturday we went up to Venus Lake, which is a fun little walk mostly on some nice slabby non crumbly rock. Due to the weather and the sanity of my backpacking companion, we didn't do any other off trail exploring, though there seem to be endless opportunities in the area. Saturday night, strong wind blew all the clouds away for awesome star gazing opportunities and the hike back on Sunday was quick and dry. It would have been nice to have good weather on Saturday, done some more exploring, but oh well. This is an awesome area that probably doesn't get very crowded. The long approach on what is mainly a horse trail combined with the last grueling four miles keep most people away, but it's definitely a worthwile place to go. Most people seem to stop at Waptus Lake for one night, but I thought the way we did it was rather rewarding and far more lonesome. We had no human company Friday evening and though a pair of backpackers did show up on Saturday, they camped halfway around the lake and we only saw them once. Here are some pics. They can't really do the place justice, though. Yana

On the trail to Spade Lake

Rock ribs near the lake

Interesting water collecting flowers

Slab walk up to Venus Lake

Lake reflection

Mt. Daniel massif at sunrise

Mountain views

Crossing deadfall #52

Reflection in Waptus Lake

[Kat]

I can see Venus lake is worth a trip! I was looking down at Waptus on 7/1/05 from Ivanhoe - beautiful valley view. Thanks for the TR.

[greg]

83 blowdowns, yikes. I'm pretty sure that is a mantained trail, but obviously not recently. I've always wanted to go there, looks well worth it despite the obstacles. Thanks for the report Yana.