[MLHSN]

Larch Lakes, GPW 10/24 Route Aprox: 15.4 mi. 3100' gain I've been terrible about doing trip reports this year so I thought I would at least try to get this one out. Apart from one short overnighter and a couple short walks Annie hasn't had the chance to get out on a decent hike since we had Isabel in may so it was a good opportunity for us to get out. We left the Entiat River TH around 8:15 and booked the flat 3.8 mi. to Myrtle Lake arriving at 9:30. There were numerous motorcycles parked along the trail but we didn't see a single person. I assume the hunters went off trail from there. The wilderness boundary isn't until Myrtle Lake so you might have to deal with some bike traffic until then.

Glowing eyes

Myrtle pano

The USGS Topo only shows the larch lake trail (1430) heading west from the Entiat River Trail (1400). The bridge connecting the two is long gone so we took the trail to Myrtle lake and then another .4 mi. up the Cow creek meadows trail (1404) until we hit the hiker-only connector 1430.1 which is shown on the GT map Lucerne but not on the USGS map. This way adds an exra .4 mi. but avoids having to ford the Entiat River. The intersections are signed well. From here the trail gains roughly 1900' in 2 mi. to lower Larch Lake. At the start of the switchbacks you can see a waterfall at the top of the hillside. This is straight out of the outlet for the lower lake and is a good gauge for how much farther you have to climb. It was fun to see more and more larches as we climbed the switchbacks.

Duncan Hill and Gopher

Duncan Hill and Gopher

From the lower lake there is a beautiful .5 mi. walk through an open meadow to the upper lake. We made it to the upper lake around 11:15 to do a little fishing and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

meadow180

upperlarch1

UpperLarch2

upperLarch3

This trip makes for a great fall larch hike.

[Slugman]

Are you sure you have the correct date? I was there on 9/22/09, just two days before the date of your trip, and all the larches were green as can be. Yet yours look golden. Can that really happen in two days?

[MLHSN]

oops thanks for the correction

[Slugman]

No problem. I like your larches better.

[Get Out and Go]

Hey Mark, any idea why they call them Larch Lakes?

[MLHSN]

[MLHSN]

Does anyone know how to get rid of the annoying differences in shade between all the photos stitched together for my pano's? I used autostitch to do the pictures. When I turned to do consecutive shots the lighting is different due to the position of the sun. I don't like the only other option of waiting until the sun is behind me.

[Bedivere]

You need a camera with manual controls. If your camera can be set manually then you want to set the exposure for the brightest frame you'll be taking provided there's not a big difference (more than three stops) between the brightest and darkest frame. If you're looking at three stops or more then the best you could probably do would be to set the exposure for the frame with the middle brightness and hope for the best. Also, you want to be sure to shade the lens so that the sun can't shine directly into it.

[MLHSN]

ah, Thanks for the help Willie. I'll see if I can pull out the manual and see if I can adjust the exposure manually. I might just need to invest in a nicer camera. I was trying to shade the lens with my hand but I seamed to miss a couple of times. Maybe a larger object is need for this task like a map.