[polarbear]

My friend Steve and I met Friday morning at 7:00 in Issaquah. The plan was to either go to Snow Lake or some place farther east depending on how far we had to drive for the sun to break through. It was pretty overcast that morning, so I was thinking Snow Lake was out, but lo' and behold as we crested the pass the sun broke through right there and we instantly decided to try the Snow Lake trail. The sky looked clear all the way up the valley. There were only 4 other cars in the parking lot when we pulled in. With plenty of time to hike, I figured we could make it to Gem Lake, and possibly Wildcat Lakes which I'd never been to. Soon we were headed up the trail. Alot of improvements have been made to the trail since last year, and signs were up indicating there might be blasting going on, but we made it up the slopes in one piece. We crested the ridge to catch a glimpse of peaceful Snow Lake down below. Steve had only been there once before, but for me Snow Lake is an annual hike--why not? It's close by and a great place to go. We passed two groups of people on there way out, but other than that the lake was ours. We hiked around the edge of the lake noticing all the usual unique reflections of the opposite peaks and ripple effects in the water for which Snow Lake is famous for and of course the lighter green-blue coloring on the submerged rocks near the shoreline. At the level stretch about 30 feet above the lake, we paused for a moment and Steve started throwing rocks into the lake. Hmmm.....they weren't splashing like they should, and they were making a strange thwunk type noise. "What kind of rocks are those?" I asked. "They don't sound right." "It's not rocks," he said. "It's how you throw them." Evidently if you throw a flat rock like you are skipping it but vertically, it makes this strange sound and doesn't splash. For what it's worth. We crossed the foot log and headed up to Gem Lake. Gem Lake is a pretty lake with a spectacular backdrop of peaks to the West. Steve offered me some dehydrated watermelon which was pretty good and some trail mix that was some of the best packaged trail mix I've ever tasted. We continued along the trail with the intent of going to Wildcat Lakes. When you get just a ways beyond Gem Lake, you realize what a long drop it's going to be to get to Wildcat Lakes. Yikes! And you have to hike all the way back up on the way out, unless you want to go down to the Middlefork and hitchhike. We descended a large number of switchbacks, crossed a few creeks and bypassed some ponds that I first thought might be Lower Wildcat Lake, but later realized were not , so I named them the Wild Kitten Lakes. At last we reached Lower Wildcat Lake. We circled to the left towards the inlet falls and then followed a trail up to Upper Wildcat Lake. This is a scenic lake with an island to one side, and some thin falls pouring down a cliff on the far end. We ate our lunch there and decided to cross the log jam and see if we could find a trail that traversed the steep slopes on the other side. A little searching didn't reveal anything, but your mileage may vary. On the way back across the log jam, we were attacked by a thousand famished bugs that probably hadn't seen a human being for a year. It was time to high-tail it out of there. On the way out we met up with a couple nice rangers that were going to the Wildcat Lakes. The climb up out of the valley was as long and grinding as we thought it would be and Gem Lake was a welcome sight when it came into view. We plunked down on the shore and relaxed a bit. By this time it was clouding over, and when we got to Snow Lake, the finest of finest misty rain was falling. It felt good on a long hike. Across the large waters of the lake were two inflatable rafts. We paused and watch them for awhile. They had made it halfway across the lake when we left. Hiking down the other side of the ridge toward the parking lot, the refreshing mist continued and that combined with the sunwarmed rocks beneath our feet made for a nice effect and that hot pavement rain smell. About a quarter mile from the parking lot we caught up with a group of three who turned out to be from Texas. They had driven all the way to Redmond for an ultimate frisbee tournament called Potlatch, the largest coed tournament in the world, which was happening this week. Since they were from Texas and they liked icecream, their team was called "Remember the A La Mode." They were here for 3 days and would be driving back Monday. They were nice people, and I hoped they realized they needed a trial park pass to park in the lot, as when we returned we saw cars with tickets in the windshield. Getting out of the boots at the car felt good as always, and a big dinner was in order. I suggested Las Margaritas on Front Street in Issaquah. We had a good meal there, and one of the best Mararitas I've had in a while. This morning my legs are a bit sore, but my fingers are not...type type type...

[Sore Feet]

Pictures man, pictures!

[Stones]

When I was a kid camping along the Rogue River we'd call this style of splashless-thunking rock chucking "cutting the devil's throat."

[ActionBetty]

Was the Snow field gone that traverses down to the snow lake? I was there a couple of weeks ago and had to find the path through the snowfields.. was a nice barrier that stopped all the other folks from enjoying the lake..but I... was nice to be secluded by myself exploring all around the lake. Sounds like a nice day was had

[Flash Gordon]

I made a hike up to Upper Wildcat lakes in the late Eighties. One of the best hiking trips I have ever had. Thanks for helping stir up those great memories!

[polarbear]

[ActionBetty]

thanks PB, I was planning on taking the heathens with me but wanted to make sure the snow field was gone first...it was slippery and hard for me to get up and down it safely without having the kids slip sliding everywhere too.

[Jennanik]

[polarbear]

Jennanik, Lower Wildcat is nice, but Upper is much nicer. Lower might make a good place to camp and then dayhike to upper, or camp at Gem and dayhike the rest. My friend is more adept at crossing streams than me. I put my foot on the first rock, and wait a few seconds to figure out how stable the rock is, and by that time my boot is getting slipperier and slipperier and starting to slide off the rock. What is everyone else's patented technique for rock hopping? Does it take you 3 seconds to cross the creek or 1 minute?

[Allison]

I am a bone fide rock-hopping retard. I have always sucked at creek crossings, but since I busted up my ankles, it's even worse for me. One thing that helps for me is to get rid of my pack to do the crossing if possible. Another thing you might try, and thanks to Tom for telling me to try this, is to lengthen your trekking poles an extra foot or so. Upper W is a very nice lake. I would like to get in there again sometime soon.

[dazza]

As I recall there's not many good camp spots at Lower Wildcat (unless you are in a Hennessy) but there were at upper. My buddy rafted out to the island at upper and said there were some good flat spots out there. The question then becomes, would you still hang your bear bag if you were out on that island? Thanks for the report, that's quite the dayhike.

[Allison]

I would hang my food no matter where I was, because bears can swim, and snaffles are everywhere.

[polarbear]

A couple pictures

Gem

Upper Wildcat

[Tom]

[Jennanik]