[Bedivere]

So far this summer my ability to achieve the objectives I've set out for myself has been dismally low. Still, the most ambitious trips (Enchantments skiing, Snowking) have been the most successful so guess I shouldn't complain. This last weekend I decided I needed to go fishing. More specifically, I decided I needed to go fishing in Otter Lake. I *KNOW* there's big fish in there. Not many people go there, it's a big lake at a relatively low elevation with a healthy, self sustaining population of fish in it. There's just gotta be a lunker or two lurking there. If you look at the maps of the area, the distance from Delta to Otter is less than half that from Trout to Delta, and the elevation gain is less also. There's a fisherman's trail from Trout to Delta so there sure seems like there should be a continuation of that trail from Delta to Otter. You would think. Looking at the map. It looked so easy. So, with thoughts of peacefully floating about said lake under sunny skies I packed up my raft, fly pole, spinning pole (I was gonna catch fish by one method or another!), lucky fishing hat, frying pan and all the fixings and headed out. Got a late start Saturday but figured even if I didn't make it to Otter on Saturday I'd be up there early Sunday morning and could spend most of the day there. The first half mile on the Foss Lakes trail went by like nothing. Jack was in high gear as we crossed the log:

After the log crossing the trail to Trout Lake starts going up, but not too seriously or for too long. As we ascended, the ridgetops were still shrouded in cloud but the skies were bright, hinting at the clearing to come.

Stopped at Trout Lake just long enough to take this picture.

Then it was on to the fisherman's trail to Delta Lake. WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! This trail is hard to find. If it is marked at all, it is hardly marked. People who use this trail kick cairns, can out-sniff a bloodhound and laugh at the notion of getting lost in the wilderness. It gets very hard to follow in places. It's very steep, rooty, slippery, rocky, covered with blowdown, forces you to crawl, and infested with Devil's Club. I'm not going to tell you how to find it. If you try to find it on your own YOU WILL DIE! If you somehow miraculously find it without dieing first and try to follow it, you will become hopelessly lost and YOU WILL DIE! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! The one and only inconspicuous cairn, marking the real beginning of the trail:

Shortly after starting up the valley I encountered a snag with a bunch of really cool looking fungus on it. Consensus seems to be that it's called "Chicken of the Sea." Oh, wait, that was my lunch. I meant, "Chicken of the Forest."

What, you don't believe my warning above? This is what the trail looks like almost the whole way:

And that's one of the more obvious stretches... On the plus side, it's never very far from the water.

As the terrain flattens out at the outlet of Delta Lake the brush, which was a mere annoyance up to this point, becomes positively thick. One moment I'm fording my way through rain-soaked greenery, the next I'm practically falling into Delta's outlet.

Making my way along the outlet I pop suddenly out of the brush right into the middle of a camp spot. I nearly fell into the tent pitched there. Got to talking to the fellas camped there and they'd come up the day before in the pouring rain. They pitched their tent at the first obvious camp spot and took shelter, coming out to fish this morning after the rain had stopped. They had float tubes and had worked Delta over pretty thoroughly but not caught anything bigger than about 8", with most in the 5-6" range. Weird, that's exactly the experience I had here 4 or 5 years ago. You would think the fish would have grown some in that time... As there was still plenty of daylight left, I was off to find a way across the outlet of Delta to the East side. There are logs that can be crossed, but they are about 100' feet down the outlet stream from the mouth of the lake. The typical logjam at the mouth is discontinous and I didn't feel like trying to jump from one greasy, slippery log to another with my pack on. Across the outlet and up into the first patch of trees is a good sized shelf in the hillside with the best camp spot on the lake. I looked back over at the fishermen and got this picture:

Did I mention the brush was wet?

It had rained most of the previous day and the sun hadn't been out this day to dry things out plus there was no wind, so it might as well have been raining considering how wet I was getting. The bonus was the occasional patch of these guys:

I'd say they're about a week to two weeks from peak ripeness, still a tad tart. As I rounded Disappointment Lake, Angeline Falls came into view. You can see from the reflection in the water that the sky was now mostly clear. It's only the haze and brightness of the sky compared to everything else that makes it look white in these pics.

There is a trail that contours around the East shore of the lake and along the way I came across the mandatory balloon:

A little further on I caught site of the Big Heart Lake outfall, which is hardly even worth taking a picture of compared to all the other impressive falls I saw to this point.

If you're looking at the maps, it looks like the outlet from Otter Lake flows into Delta Lake in one neat, tidy little stream. Hah. It has formed a network of braided channels all along the flats, creating a series of small islands and several small flows running into the lake. After crossing the first of these, the trail I was following abruptly ended at a mediocre camp spot. The most obvious continuation of this trail was right down to the lake shore, so that's the way I went. I was still hoping to make it to Otter this evening and figured if the trail to Otter was as obvious as the trail around the shore of Delta, I'd be able to follow it by headlamp the last little way even if it got dark. Well, no such luck. I followed the shore of Del... errr... Disappointment Lake all the way around to the South end, probing into the bushes at all the likely places and not finding anything resembling a trail or route. So, as the last light lit the sky, I took this picture

then went back to that mediocre camp spot, pitched my tent and called it a day. The next day I was up as the sun lit the far side of the lake. Okay, not the pre-dawn start I might have gotten, but I was still confident that there must be some route up to Otter and since it was a mile or less up to that lake, it wouldn't take me long to get there. I scouted around in the braided stream channels and islands of brush surrounding my camp. I followed the shoreline trail all the way back to the good campsite I saw the previous day near the outlet, thinking that maybe the trail branched there and went up onto the bench above the lake. When that didn't pan out I went all the way back to the camp site in the Otter outlet area and again scouted around, trying my luck with the areas of thinnest brush. That either led to thicker brush, deep stream channels, thickets of small trees, or boulders. So, back to the lake shore and once again wander around to the South end of the lake, thinking that maybe the route goes up the small canyon that leads off from there then crosses over a rib to Otter. Still no luck, just thick brush, boulders, small trees and more water with cliff bands above. At least Jack enjoyed the grassy area at the end of the lake.

In my wanderings I did see some pretty interesting things. Like this tree.

Someone sawed that sucker down. Why? When? (Obviously quite awhile ago). It's right on the shore of the lake. No road has ever gone here. Who the hell humped a saw big enough to cut that tree (it's about 2.5' diameter at that point) all the way up here to cut down one tree and just leave it there? Also, as I was walking along the shore I heard a sudden rushing sound that just as quickly went away. I looked around to see what it might have been but didn't see anything obvious. As I passed that same spot again I heard the rushing sound again. I stopped dead in my tracks and looked around some more. I took two steps back and stepped right back into the rushing sound. Whoa. Two steps forward, no rushing sound, two steps back, rushing sound. Two more steps back, no more rushing sound. It then dawned on me what was happening.

This large rock was right at the edge of the lake, about three feet from where I was walking right at the water's edge. Notice it's concave shape. It was aimed right at Angeline falls and acting as a reflector dish, concentrating the sound from the falls and reflecting and concentrating it on one fairly narrow spot about 4 feet in front of it. Step closer to the rock and the sound went away. Step farther out away from it than I had previously and the sound diminished (I didn't walk out into the lake to figure out how far before it went away). But, walk right through the spot I walked through and the sound was unmistakeable and just as loud as what I was hearing from the falls behind me. Never seen or heard anything like that before. And the final thing I saw that really got my brain wondering while bumbling and stumbling around the East edge of this disappointing lake was this:

It caught Jack's attention, he was really interested in this tuft of moss for some reason and I could tell from his body language that it was something more than just an interesting smell so I came over to check it out. I couldn't figure out what I was seeing at first. That's a bee's butt. A bumblebee was digging his (her?) way down into this tuft of moss for some reason. I mean he was really going to town, just burrowing right in, actively digging with all his little legs. When I first saw him, his butt was sticking up out of the moss, by the time I continued on after taking a couple pictures he'd almost disappeared. Starting a new hive? Digging to China? I dunno how you explain a bumblebee digging into a tuft of moss over a rock. Finally tired, scratched, sweaty, disheveled, every orifice stuffed with leaves and pine needles, and missing my glasses (if you ignore my warning and go to this silly place, keep an eye out for a pair of glasses. Thanks!) I gave up. I took a picture of the problem for posterity and headed out.

Otter Lake is just beyond that forested rim. So close, yet so far away. On the way down I spied Trout Lake

and got a couple pictures of this interesting spot along the route. You traverse across these steps which remind me of the crumbling remains of the steps to some ancient temple in a distant tropical jungle.

If you know how to get to Otter Lake from Delta, if there's a route that doesn't involve swimming through brush for more than 20 yards or scrambling over and through big-ass boulders, let me know, okay? Thanks, and may all your hikes be fun!

[joker]

Nice try and fun report. That concave sound reflecting rock was a cool detail.

[stevefromdodge]

I've never been the area, but it sounds ideal. Google found me this (which you may have already seen) http://alpinejo.tripod.com/otterlake.htm

[Hulksmash]

An epic bushwack.... I love epic bushwacks

[Mtn Man]

Hehe, sounds like a pretty rough trip, especially without your glasses! Hope you got out ok. Thanks for the report! B)

[DIYSteve]

[Scrooge]

PM Randy. He's the one who got me started going up to Delta, based on a Delta/Otter trip report he did back on WTA. It described the Otter Route in some detail (it was difficult to find 10 years ago, too). I was up there with Bryan and Tom in 2002. Here's the report from that. https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=654&highlight=Delta+Lake I never got any further than you did, but my excuse was always that I ran out of time and energy. That hike is just a bear. And here's some very old photos

stairstep cascade

steps in stairstep cascade

Delta outfall, lower set, middle falls, classic view

Delta Lake

which you'll probably recognize.

[Flora]

Sounds like an Indiana Jones adventure in the jungles of ??? the Cascades! Great trip report.

[Backpacker Joe]

I've been into Otter via Delta five times! Once to Delta place your raft in the water and PADDLE to the obvious inlet area a mid lakes southeast shore. The trail up to Otter is small but it is there. The trail works its way up Otters outlet stream on the North side and goes all the way to Otter. Sorry you had such a bummin time there CSW.

[Bedivere]

BPJ - Bah! I knew there had to be a trail, I just couldn't find it for some reason. I didn't read or even look for any trip reports about this route beforehand because I figured it would be a no-brainer. I'd been to Delta before and didn't imagine the route to Otter would be hard to locate. I bet I was right next to the trail a couple of times... As for rafting across the lake - not a bad idea but there is a decent trail all the way around the NE side from the outlet to the inlet from Otter. Only took about 20-25 mins to get from one point to the other and with Jack along, rafting would be pretty much impossible. Our combined weight with packs handily exceeds my raft's rating and his claws would surely punch a hole in it, if I could even get him to step into it in the first place (he doesn't like water.) Mtn. Man - fortunately my eyes really aren't all that bad and I have prescription sunglasses. I know exactly how I lost my glasses too - left them in the tent when I crawled out in the morning then forgot they were in there. They probably flew off into the brush when I shook out the tent before folding it up. Since I've only had this pair for about 8 mos. my insurance won't buy me a new pair. Going to cost almost $300 to replace them... First time in 15 years of wearing glasses that I've lost a pair.

[GeoHiker]

What BPJ said!.....there's actually fisherman trails on both sides of the outlet stream, but the best one is on the N. side. Bummer you missed the trail. Delta was never that hot for fishing, but had some decent size fish. Otter used to be excellent fishing, but you really need a raft to fish it effectively. It's been about 10 years since I've been to Delta, so sounds like the lack of hikers has turned it into a fun brush bash. Trout Lk is a mess too. Shame that area is going to hell and being ignored by the FS.

[Bedivere]

I don't think there's any lack of people going to Delta (not that it's popular), though maybe fewer than in the past, I don't really know. There were the two guys with their float tubes up there, and someone had camped recently at the good spot on the shelf in the trees across the outlet and left pleasantly tufted mounds of poo in the boulders near there... I saw their footprints in muddy spots and they looked fairly recent given the rains of the last week. Also, the trail around the E side of the lake is reasonably well beaten in though pretty brushy in places. The brush *is* super thick right when the trail gets up onto the flats at the outlet of Delta. I guess I should have tried harder to get up the outlet from Otter. All I could see up that direction was brush and giant boulders though, which discouraged me somewhat, especially since I didn't see any hint of the continuation of the trail going that direction. Should have known a fishermen's trail would follow the most obvious route.