[polarbear]

There is always lists of best places, but how about naming a place you'd never hike to. Maybe it's a lake and you only hike to peaks. Maybe you consider it a chumpy hike. Maybe it has a bad reputation for some reason. For me, it's Black Lake. Black Lake may be the most scenic place in the Cascades, but after hearing someone tell me how they hiked in, set up camp, and then later that night were overrun my hoards of people with big rafts and boom boxes...well, it didn't push it to the top of my list. So, what is yours?

[jenjen]

The Damfino Lakes. The lakes are beautiful, the whole scenery is wonderful and lush and green. I have never seen so many biting bugs in all my life. There were skeeters, there were black flies, there were horse flies, there were bigger horse flies, there were no-see-ums sneaking thru everything. I was following a boy scout troup and we ended up coating ourselves with every kind of bug repellent thing we could dig up. Didn't work. Did melt my compass, tho. I swear to you, this is where the bugs gather and plan their attacks on the rest of the North Cascades.

[Backpacker Joe]

Let's see, I wont hike to lake Sammamish, or lake Washington, or lake Kacheese, or lake so and so. Hmm, if there be's a lake out there in thems mountains, I'm's a guess-in that I'll hike to it. TB

[WrongBridge]

I will never hike to Mary Ann Lakes again. They are in the Oly's and are extremely hard to get to. On a topo map they are only 7 miles cross country but when my brother talked me into going there it took ten straight hours of hell to get there. I should have known from the beginning that the trip would be insane because my brother has speed hiked across the Oly's 2 times in one day. I have never in my life pushed myself to that extreme. Going to the lakes was a true test of my physical limit. If I wasn't carrying a pack the trip would have been easier but we all had packs because we stayed up there for 3 days. I know I wasn't the only one in pain because my brother was hallucinating before we got to the lakes. He was saying to me that the worms on the ground were really colorful, there were no worms on the ground!!and no we don't use any drugs. That trip we took was in the middle of summer and I still have a toe that is numb from it. WB

[catwoman]

I won't hike to Upper Lena Lake again. In my opinion, the difficulty of the trail far exceeded the rewards of getting there. I think Lower Lena is a much prettier lake.

[Sore Feet]

Tiger Mtn (s). Been to Tradition Lake a few times, and that was blah enough for me.

[catwoman]

The only reason to go to Tiger is because it's a good workout pretty close to home (well, 45 minutes from me is closer than most).

[MooseAndSquirrel]

I see you say it's two-faced- that Janus. Was just going to ask if that was that two-faced thing you always see on that Janus corporation logo? I guess so. I'm trying to get in as many Janus references as I can here. Is Janus anything to do with the Harlequin (sic) masks in theatre (I love spelling theater as theatre- it just shows how much class I've got)- you know, one laughing and the other crying, or humo(u!)r/pathos- you get the picture. Is Janus Greek or Roman, I can never get that stuff straight! Zeus-Jupiter, Mercury-Chevy, Mars-Venus, aaaaugh....

[Stefan]

.....I will never hike to the shipside of one of the nuclear subs at Bangor. .....I will never hike in East LA. .....I will never hike in the Green Bay Packers stadium shouting "The Bears are awesome!" I could get shot with all those instances.

[kiliki]

Down the Grand Canyon to Dripping Spring. It's only 6.5 miles rt and 1000' gain but the trail is like sand. Imagine walking up a beach that gains a thousand feet of elevation, in the burning sun with no shade. Maybe all hikes down into the canyon are like this, in which case I would do none of them.

[MooseAndSquirrel]

Bright Angel in GC was steep & hot but the surface was fine. Of course the mule ride down & back up made it easier.

[Backpacker Joe]

You wouldnt make it to the shipside of one of the Ohio class nuclear subs at Bangor! Try another. TB

[Allison]

No Janus for me either. Too spooky.

[dean brittain]

Wagonwheel Lake in the Olympics. This lake near Staircase is so sucky and not worth the 1000' feet per mile. I think this was the only hike that pissed me off most of the way down.

[Duncan]

Marylou, would you or Quark care to share your experiences from Lake Janus? Sounds like a great story.