[sarbar]

Nuts4Hiking, her hubby and her nephew (age 11) met up with Ford and me today for another hike. We decided last night to do Pratt Lake off of I-90. We got a decent start, but ouch, it was hot!! I saw one tiny,tiny patch of snow the whole way to the saddle, and even all the creeks are getting very small. One huge mud pit though We hit right below the saddle and had an awesome view of Olallie Lake and Rainer. Made that long hike very worthwhile! Kinda odd to see Olallie 2 weeks later-it was frozen then, no snow at all now. We lunched at the saddle and poked around a tad, but we were spent by the heat so we headed back down. Was an enjoyable 8.6 miles-hey anytime you get fresh air and sunshine I am happy to be out there! I def want to go back and do the trail from Mason Lake to the Saddle in a couple weeks The picture below unfortunley you can't see Rainer as the sky was too bright-but she was gorgeous, she dominated the sky behind the lake! The photo with the snow is 2 weeks ago looking up at where we were today-a very big difference!

[Backpacker Joe]

Sar-Bar, I once camped at Paradise lake, and when I went to sleep the lake was frozen 90+%. When I awoke the lake was 100% clear! Nature truly is wondrous! TB

[sarbar]

My favorite is when the lakes are in iceberg state They are SO pretty!

[Dante]

That's a cool area. I spent a lot of time between I-90 and the Middle Fork as a kid. The first trip I took without an "adult" was from the gate on the Granite Lake Road to the Talapus trailhead via Granite Lakes, Thompson, Mt. Defiance, Kulla Kulla, Big and Little Mason, Blazer, Island and Rainbow, Pratt and Ollalie. We spent the last night at Talapus and some "adults" took the camp site we were staking out even though our packs were in it. We camped upwind and made a big smokey fire The next day we hiked out and my dad picked us up in the van. It was grand! I've been wanting to get back up there . . . Given the conditions you report, I might try sooner rather than later

[foggy]

We had a terrific time. It was very hot though. What was worse, is we hit rush hour traffic on the way home. We are so frugal, we don't have the air conditioner recharged in the truck, I think I would've used it that afternoon. Hwy 167 was bad and hwy512 was worse. We definitely want to hike that area more. It is very beautiful. Thanks Sarbar and Sarkid for a great day. The other half of the fogduo or nutz, says you have a led foot.

[sarbar]

A lead foot? Me? Never! Heehee!! Yeah, well, traffic stunk big time! As I got off 18 and headed up 272nd, the rd got closed to a big accident-I was 1 mile away from my home! AGH!! Then I had to turn around, get on 167, witness a bad wreck in the middle lane then get back on 18, where there was ANOTHER wreck tying up traffic. Finally, I got on I-5 which was zipping along just nicely! I finally got home 45 minutes later after I first turned off 18. EEK!!

[Backpacker Joe]

Dante, I'd like to do that trip. Start at Thompson, and do the entire route. I'd like to come out via Melakwa, instead of Talapus. I think that seeing the two Tuscohatchies and Melakwa would be better than Olallie and Talapus. TB

[sarbar]

I almost made it to Melakwa Lake yesterday, BPJ, but it was just too hot! I will say I found the Denny CReek Trail to be the prettiest of the trails. We are planning on doing Granite Lakes to DennyCreek in the next 2 weeks Only 17.4 miles! Hehheh PS:BPJ, did you see my photos on my DCT report? Why I wore the baby blue bandana just for you guys!

[Backpacker Joe]

Sar, no I didnt see it. Are you going to walk the Granite lakes road to the Thompson trailhead? Then go from Thompson over defiance to mason, kulla kulla, past rainbow and blazer, by island then drop down to pratt? TB

[Dante]

[sarbar]

Yep, BPJ, as far as I can see that's the plan-and I am adding the extra mileage so I can go visit Island lake too! Should be a hoot, we are planning it as a 2 nighter, 2 and a half day trip, so we can enoy the scenery So far it's me, my son and Rainrunner (she went on the last trip with us to the Olympics). Hopefully we will be able to round up a few more strangers, suckers and hiking buddies to go with us!

[Dante]

[sarbar]

We'd love to have as many as possible-usually we get around 6 people, everyone is responsible for their gear, etc but we ususally hike together for the most part (many times we have one, er, slower hiker with us, but we love her so much we slow down. She probably won't be on this one ) I will warn you the kid usually comes along-I really, really like to warn people on this, as I know not everyone likes hiking with kids. I believe we are thinking of starting on the afternoon of the 3rd-or we could start on the 4th of july very early, depending on schedules of everybody. We would get doone most likely late on the 5th. I need to get planning So if anybody is intrested, please, feel free to join us!

[Dayhike Mike]

BPJ / Dante / anyone else -- Interested in doing that route as a day hike? I'd originally been looking at coming in via Mason, and hitting pretty much every lake on the bench except Olallie and Talapus (too many people) before heading out via Denny Creek. Anyone interested in joining me on either variation?

[sarbar]

I'd like to do it as a dayhike but I'd have to do it sans kid so if any of you guys ever wanted to do it, I'd have to do it on a weekend so I could leave my bundle o' joy with the boyfriend I would be very intrested!!