Three Lessons I Learned from this Trip:
- Be careful what you wish for; you might get it.
- Take the detours. Go see whatever there might be to see.
- Prepare to be delighted. Enjoy whatever you discover. What you get might be even better than what you expected.
1st Careless Wish: Ever since I first say Ice Lakes on a trip in 1994, I’ve wished to see the lakes with fresh snow and golden larches. Result: In every one of four subsequent trips during larch season, I’ve been obstructed by deep snow or fresh storms. But it’s been an entertaining quest anyway.
Saturday
Leroy Basin
Trailhead Group
Delightful Discovery: The trees had much more color remaining than I had expected.
Jack Mountain
Mt. Maude
Seven
Hillside above the gully
The gully
Delightful Discovery: There was just enough new snow to frost the rocks above and coat the basins below.
Frosty Crest (Maude)
Snowy Basin (with Buck & Glacier)
Delightful Discovery: Walking through the larches was wonderful, as always. The light reflected off the colored needles made the very air itself feel rich and comforting.
Trail
Amid the larches
Hiking with larches 1
Hiking with larches 2
Hiking above larches
Delightful Discovery: Even when fallen from the trees, the larch needles scatter like artwork amid the snow, heather, and blueberries.
Larch Needle Art 1
Larch Needle Art 2
Ice Pass
Delightful Discovery: Finally, instead of steely cold grey and black, Upper Ice Lake was bright blue in the sunshine.
Upper Ice Lake
Upper Ice Lake & Spectacle Buttes
Maude & Upper Ice Lake Basin from Ice Pass
Mt. Maude
We descended a couple hundred feet, switched to lightweight summit packs, and most of the group ascended Maude.
Looking back to our packs and companions below Ice Pass
Ascending
Nearing Maude’s summit
Maude Summit Group
Not So Delightful Discovery: Clouds were rapidly building up from the west.
Clouds west of Glacier Peak
Shadows below Jack & Fernow
1st Fruitful Detour: Descending Maude, I angled over to the steeper east edge of the slope, which gave me a view of both of the lakes. The high contrast with the snow made the lakes look like black voids, but I enjoyed seeing their shapes in context with the peaks beyond.
Upper Ice Lake from Maude
Lower Ice Lake from Maude
Ice Lakes & Ice Creek Valley
Upper Ice Lake
We descended back to our packs and made a camp at Upper Ice Lake.
Delightful Discovery: Back at the packs, Tom & Justus greeted us as they passed by on their fast day trip.
Spectacle Buttes Falling into shadow
Larch & Sky
Evening Recon
2nd Fruitful Detour: After dinner I went roaming out along the shore of Upper Ice Lake, dropped down to the bench above Lower Ice Lake, and followed the bench back past Middle Ice Pond to camp.
Several Discovered Delights:
* The outlet stream tumbled down its steep cleft in series of short falls and rapids, including a perfect secluded waterfall-fed pool.
* The overcast evening light made the larches glow with soft light like warm blazes in the cool gray landscape.
* The still surface of the middle pond reflected all the peaks in the last bit of fading life as I walked by.
Waterfall Pool
Waterfall Pool and Ice Ridge
Icebox Peak
Sunday
2nd Careless Wish: I wanted it to not be frigidly cold overnight. Result: Thick clouds moved in and covered the summits, providing a warming blanket of air that raised the temperature overnight.
Camp on Sunday morning
Breakfast
Traverse to Lower Ice Lake via Middle Ice Pond
Several Discovered Delights:
* Despite the ominous wind and clouds, almost everyone was willing to try for North Spectacle Butte anyway.
* Ptarmigans! My favorite mountain bird! Even better, these ptarmigans were midway in transition from brown to white, their white feather with bits of brown and black making a perfect match for the brown and black rocks amid the white snow.
* Sneaking past one side of the clouds, bright sun lit up the crest line of Ice Ridge in the storm-freshened clear air.
* Scores of scattered boulders decorated the near end of Middle Ice Pond.
* Calmer water at the far end of Middle Ice Pond made pretty reflections of even small details.
* Some surprisingly large larch trees stood on the heights above Lower Ice Lake.
* Sizable stands of larches dropped steeply down into the Entiat Valley.
* Fallen larch needles filled the tracks of previous hikers.
Middle Ice Pond & cloudy summits
Ptarmigans
Plump Ptarmigan
Skinny Ptarmigan
Icebox Reflection in Middle Ice Pond
Ice Ridge Reflection in Middle Ice Pond
Lower Ice Lake
Larch tracks
North Spectacle Butte Ascent
Easy slopes and ridges led all the way to the top of North Spectacle.
Un-Delightful Discovery: The wind was roaring across the ridges, especially in the Maude-Spectacle Col. Going up the final slope, I was afraid to even get out more clothes, for fear that anything I unfastened would be whipped away by the wind. Fortunately, the summit itself was less windy.
Delightful Discovery: There were small larches all the way up on top.
Ascending North Spectacle Butte (note hiker at col)
Windy Ascent
North Spectacle Butte summit group
Highest larch on North Spectacle Butte
North Spectacle Butte Descent
Delightful Discovery: The clouds lifted. The sun came out.
Descending
Lakes emerging from clouds
Lower Ice Lake
Delightful Discovery: Lower Ice Lake has an especially enticing peninsula and island.
Lower Ice Lake while descending
Lower Ice Lake
Lower Ice Lake Island
3rd Fruitful Detour: On returning to Lower Ice Lake, I detoured around the shore the peninsula for a swim. Besides the fun swim, this detour also brought me to the golden shoreline.
3rd Careless Wish: I wanted to swim to the island in Lower Ice Lake. However, I forgot to wish for the cold wind to stop. It was a great swim anyway.
Swimming
Swimming Back
Delightful Discoveries while Swimming:
* The water was surprisingly comfortable, enough that I swam back and forth a bit extra. (However, the waves that occasionally slapped me in the face were not so delightful.)
* The island was fun to visit. I was originally going to just swim, but the island was too tempting, even if it meant getting out in the cold air. Much of the ground turned out to be soft pumice, perfect for running around in bare feet.
* The swim felt great afterward – a brief chill while drying off, but then I felt thoroughly refreshed and invigorated.
Best Delightful Discovery of the Trip: Two items individually seemed quite un-delightful – constant winds by the lake, and larches that had already lost most of their needles. But the two together produced something extra special – a golden shoreline of floating larch needles outlining the whole downwind curve of the lake.
Golden Shoreline
Golden Shoreline panorama
Lower Ice Lake Outlet
On the hike back along the Lower-Middle lake bench, many of the earlier delights looked even better in the bright sun.
Lower Ice Lake Vicinity
Big larches & North Spectacle Butte
Larches & South Spectacle Butte
Rocks in Middle Ice Pond
Middle Ice Pond & sunny summits
Upper Ice Lake
Delightful Discovery: The bright day make Upper Ice Lake shine in rippling shades of color, everything from deep navy to bright teal.
Upper Ice Lake
Upper Ice Lake pan
Ice Pass
The shifting, wind-ruffled waters of the lake continued to display stunning varieties of blue as we ascended.
Ready to leave camp.
Hiking back up to Ice Pass
My shadow bidding farewell to Upper Ice Lake
Upper Ice Lake Basin
Ice Pass Cairn
Leroy Basin Exit
Delightful Discovery: I thought it would be less interesting going back down Leroy Basin, but the sunlight shining from the opposite side lit up new aspects of all the trees and slopes.
Larches to the west
Larches to the east
Larches Near & Far
A bit of red meadow at the corner
Berries & grass
Back at the Car
A mouse shredded some papers in my trunk again, and chewed holes in one of my favorite shirts.
Along the drive home, my odometer reached 123456.
“As beacons mountains burned at evening.” J.R.R. Tolkien