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Slugman
It’s a Slugfest!



Joined: 27 Mar 2003
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Slugman
It’s a Slugfest!
PostTue Mar 30, 2004 11:28 pm 
I drove up to the Packwood lake trailhead Saturday after work to find it deserted. I slept in the car, and Sunday morning I went back into Packwood for breakfast, then returned to the trailhead. I hit the trail at 2 pm, not in any hurry. The first two miles of the aquaduct trail were snow-free, then it was patchy for a while, then got deep enough to put the snowshoes on, then it disappeared again, then got deep again, then was all gone when I got to the lake. If I went back tomorrow, I would definitely leave the snowshoes home. There was some blow-down to negotiate, but nothing to bad. The lake is very scenic, with a small island making a nice foreground to pictures of Johnson Peak in the distance. I explored the aquaduct entry area, and an old cabin that had a strange boat in it, apparently made of skins stretched over a frame. There was a nice campsite at the northeast corner of the lake, so I settled in for the sunset, made dinner and hung my hammock. There was deer poop everywhere, at least 20 piles in my campsite alone. I was very glad I hadn't brought the dog and a tent. The temperatures were hot when the wind came up the valley, and cold if they came from over the lake and down from the glaciers. I was serenaded to sleep by an owl and the yipping of some coyotes when the moon came out. Monday morning I lounged around taking pictures, then motivated at noon and headed to the south end of the lake, and got some nice views of Rainier. I needed my GPS to find the Upper Lake Creek trail due to some snow in the woods, but once found it was easy to follow. It wound its way upstream just a few feet up the bank that borders the creek bottom, which is very interesting. I couldn't tell if a forest grew up in the middle of a braided stream, or if a stream had invaded a forest. I had hoped to go far enough to get a view of Packwood Glacier, but once I was about 1/2 mile beyond Beaver Creek, I knew that was an unrealistic goal, still 2 more miles ahead, and the woods were pretty dense, so a view may have been unlikely anyway. I went back to the lake, and explored the mud flats where the streams meet the lake, getting some more good photos of Rainier and Johnson Pk. I did the two miles back to camp in just 65 minutes because the lakeshore trail is snow-free and in excellent shape. The permit box at the wilderness boundary says there is a $100 fine for not having a permit even for day use, and there was no pencil in the box. Oh well. The 11th essential: a pen. The lake was 90% melted out Monday morning, 100% by late afternoon. Monday night was another display of planets, stars and the moon, with more owls but no coyotes. Tuesday dawned gray and drizzly, so I packed up and then hung out a while under my tarp that I use as a rain fly for the hammock, hoping for some last views or maybe an end to the rain. At 10:30 I gave up and left, and the rain stopped about an hour later, so the delayed start did help. I went back a slightly different way, heading up and over a 200 ft bump, following some snowmobile tracks, instead of countouring around the bump like on the way in. I got back at 1 pm, 2 1/2 hours to go 4 1/2 miles, maybe 1/3 snow-covered. As I approached the trailhead, I saw red tape crossing the trail in several places, and there were small bits of paper held down by rocks at numerous spots, each piece of paper marked with notes like "#2" or "#8". Weird. When I stopped for lunch in Packwood, I was informed that someone had committed suicide at the trailhead Monday night. The tape and markers then made tragic sense. How sad. Still it was a great trip, and having the entire lake to myself for three days made it special. I was surprised at the quantity of truly giant trees, the scenic quality of the lake, and the great mountain views. The downsides to this hike, the crowds and the motorized access, were not in evidence this trip. A big thanks goes out to Bev Blanchard and Eric Willhite, whose recent trip reports alerted me to the fact that this trip was now open.
JohnsonPk
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Monday morning fog
Monday morning fog

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Plinko
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PostWed Mar 31, 2004 12:15 am 
Slugman wrote:
I explored the aquaduct entry area, and an old cabin that had a strange boat in it, apparently made of skins stretched over a frame...
HAhaha..I slept in that boat 2 weeks ago! tongue.gif From your pics and description, it's pretty amazing how much snow melted out in just 10 days since we was there. We were postholing about 3 of the 4 miles into the lake, with no tracks to follow...and at night tongue.gif On the way out the next day we followed the old road back, where a snowmobile had packed down the route making it easy going. Fun hike, and great to get up there with no other people.

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Sore Feet
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PostWed Mar 31, 2004 12:40 am 
Nice reflections. up.gif

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sarbar
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PostWed Mar 31, 2004 7:39 am 
I think I need to go explore wink.gif

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Dslayer
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PostWed Mar 31, 2004 9:12 am 
Interesting and timely report, at leasy timely for me, since I was hoping to get to Packwood Lake the weekend after next. It's also one of my early season fishing spots, too, so I was interested in how tough/easy it was to get in on the access you took-there were so many blowdowns about this time last year I gave up. That road is pretty well maintained though, and by opening day of fishing season it was cleared out and there's been some big slides in the past.

"The Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights is my concealed weapon permit."-Ted Nugent
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Slugman
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Slugman
It’s a Slugfest!
PostWed Mar 31, 2004 9:46 am 
Dslayer, the aquaduct trail got me in to the lake in three hours, fifteen minutes, and out in two hours, thirty minutes. That's from campsite to car, and I am pretty slow even when pushing pretty hard. You could subtract 30 minutes or so for snow melt if you go up week after next. The road up to the trailhead is paved and snow-free. Blowdowns were more of a threat to get water on you from the branches than anything else. I saw an eagle drop to the lake and come away with a fish, and I heard a few large "plops", like someone had thrown a large rock into the lake, so there must be some good-sized fish in there somewhere. I give this hike my highest recommendation for this time of year because: #1, no one else was there; #2, other places that are better are still under snow; #3, it really is a great place with huge trees and awesome views. I wrote a poem, or at least composed part of one in my mind, on Monday morning watching the fog dissipate. Here goes: If I Were Water, by Slugman If I were water, I would hide in the murky depths of me to inspire wonder at what secrets they contained, I would cling to mountainsides in snowy splendor, melting and laughing down them in the warm spring sun, I would leap straight into the air and flow around the world on winds of change, seeing everthing there was to see, my soul free, I would bestow or withhold the rain at my whim, oh what a gleeful tyrant I would be, If I were water. There's more, and it needs polishing up, but I must dash to work now, so I will work on it more later. I just needed to get the gist down before it fades like a dream upon awakening.

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Dslayer
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PostWed Mar 31, 2004 2:39 pm 
Geez, Slugman-in a word, that's beautiful-Packwood Lake, before the hordes begin arriving is a great place for that kind of inspiration and even later in the year if you camp up at the upper end, you can be pretty much alone. My wife took a great picture like you did of Johnson Peak with the reflection on the water except it was dreary day-it was almost haunting in that respect and we enlarged it and have it framed at home. I've seen Ospreys take fish out the water, never an eagle, though, I'll bet that was pretty cool-there are some nice fish in there-I've caught a few up to 18-19 inches and lots in the 13-15 inch range. They're a different strain of rainbow as I understand it. The story of the suicide at the T-head is creepy-I have contacts over in Packwood, I've more or less inherited a little 2 bedroom mobile home my dad had over there, I'll see what's up about that story, if anything. An excellent hike from Packwood Lake is to go up the ridge, I think that's still the Packwood Lake Trail-the one that goes up the Lake is called the Upper Lake Creek Trail (I think) and hit the Three Peaks trail that takes you to Lost Lake-beautiful spot-and then on up to the top of Coal Creek Mountain.

"The Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights is my concealed weapon permit."-Ted Nugent
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Slugman
It’s a Slugfest!



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Slugman
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PostWed Mar 31, 2004 11:02 pm 
You're right about the trail, the one that is called the Packwood trail does go up to Mosquito lake and Lost lake. I could have had all the "dreary day" pictures I wanted on Tuesday, but it was so dreary that Johnson Peak was invisible. Thanks for the kind words about the poem, only the second I have ever written. It may have been an osprey I saw, since it was a mile away through binoculars, the eagle thing was basically a guess. I get a kind of mental clarity on wilderness mornings, especially when I'm not leaving that day, like Monday. Besides the poem, I envisioned a water filtration and sorage system like a camelback, except double-chambered, with a filter in between the chambers. Just fill the upper chamber, then sit on it to force the water through the filter into the lower chamber, where it can sucked out through a tube. If you needed extra water capacity, just re-fill the upper chamber again, and start hiking with both filled. Definitely easier than pumping and quicker than gravity. Put that useless rump to work for you!

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Dslayer
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PostThu Apr 01, 2004 1:20 pm 
Heck, a poem, osprey and a patentable invention all in couple of days! Can't beat that...One of my favorite times there was in December about 7 years ago when it was unusually cold-the lake was frozen and few non-melting inches of snow were on the ground-had the lake all to myself-built a fire and just layed around all day-snowed off and on. Several deer drifted by along the shoreline....great day.

"The Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights is my concealed weapon permit."-Ted Nugent
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frankm3
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PostThu Apr 08, 2004 5:38 pm 
We (me and my furry buddy Zoe) are headed back here tomorrow...Should be a great day for it too! I wasn't really thinking we'd get much further than the far end of the lake as far as our destination for the day. How long should I leave to get back to the lake, about 2- 2.5 hours? Should I bring the snowshoes, or leave 'em at home? Are there any poop-free campsites? lol.gif I am bringing both a tent and a dog. I don't think I'll bring back a literary masterwork like Slugman did, but I do promise to bring some photos back and a report if you all want to hear about it. Frank

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salish
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PostThu Apr 08, 2004 6:00 pm 
Slugman, Great report, great photos, and a wonderful poem. Thanks. Could you tell what type of material was used for the skin on that boat? It actually looks like a heck of a job - whoever put the keel and ribs together looks like they had a good plan. Very interesting..... I hunted deer in the Packwood and Cispus River areas, and areas bordering on Goat Rocks, back in the early 70's, and except for a quickie camping trip there in 1994 it's been that long since I've been there. It's a beautiful area. Anyway, good report! Cliff

My short-term memory is not as sharp as it used to be. Also, my short-term memory's not as sharp as it used to be.
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Slugman
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Slugman
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PostThu Apr 08, 2004 11:51 pm 
Frank, no snowshoes needed. Campsites farther along the lake shore, maybe 1/2 to 2/3 to the far end, seemed somewhat less deer-defiled. Salish, the boat covering was probably not actual skin, it was too transparent. Maybe some kind of tough plastic or film. I would have launched it and sailed the lake, except I'm not insane. Much. lol.gif If you hunted deer there now, you better bring a big truck to carry all 100 or so you could bag in a day. I had a heck of a time kepping the dumb bastards out from under my car on the road. I must have seen two or three at least each time I drove the road (twice in each direction). I guess it could have been just one deer cutting switchbacks. They all look alike to me.

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PostFri Apr 09, 2004 9:44 am 
Thanks Slugman! We are just heading out according to the "lazy backpacker's" schedule for our trip of the week. Normally I am somewhat early of a riser, but I have a tremendously hard time motivating myself to get up at zero-dark-thirty hours on my day off! Now that we have some daylight it's nice to have the luxury of time! See y'all in a day or so! Frank

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