[polarbear]

Mike, Jeanine, and I (MJB though we drank no coffee) were planning on a weekend hike. Looking for a trail close to Seattle and with few bugs, we went to Annette. This was the second time I had hiked to this lake, the first being many moons ago. I looked for the bees nest I'd stepped on near the lake the first time I'd hiked the trail. I think I found where it had been, but saw nor felt no bees. A couple people warned us about mosquitos at the lake, but we encountered very few and we were at the lake for probably 3 hours. I was really surprised at the lack of bugs. There must have been tastier people hiking elsewhere. We did see many small fish at the outlet of the lake. A few people were out swimming. Mike tried to cross the outlet stream on logs and got one foot planted in the stream. Oops. He went exploring for better places to cross. Later on I noticed that both legs or his jeans were darker up to just above his knees. It wan't the dye. "Er Mike, why so quiet? Do you have something to say?" He had tried to cross the stream farther down and stepped on one of those floating islands that look like solid dirt with little plants growing on them, sunk to the bottom and lost his glasses in the process. I didn't realize Lake Annette could be such a dangerous place. For as many cars as there were in the parking lot, there didn't seem to be alot of people at the lake, and when we left at 3:00 there was hardly anyone there. Who would have expected solitude at Lake Annette? Since I didn't have a parking pass, I parked in a turnout about 100 ft from the main parking area. No ticket on my windshield when we returned...

annette lake trail

[Ice Girl]

My hiking partner and i almost went to the lake on Sunday, too. Ice Girl