Manly Manastache

So this whole weekend was about going ANYWHERE, because Heidi's been working too much. Plus she needed to give her new knee a real test, having had a partial replacement just a few months ago. I wanted to give my new backpack a test too - so we didn't want to do anything too hard, in case either didn't perform quite the way we'd hoped. 

Ancient Lakes is a go to easy early backpack that I haven't done yet, so it seemed a no brainer. Forecast looked good...then even better...then wait, that's a little warm...then hell no, we're not going to that desert wasteland in near triple digit heat. 

Heidi has to take a picture of EVERY flower, haha

She takes good ones though!

So now what? I had already booked a Hipcamp spot for us to stay near Leavenworth Friday night so we would have time to get a Balsamroot experience before heading to Ancient Lakes on Saturday. (And wow, did we get one! Story here ) So needing to find something to fit into our original Hwy 2 / I-90 loop plan, I simply visited the Washington Trail Association page, selected a few filters on their "Hike Finder Map," then clicked away until I found something I liked. (Thanks WTA! They have an app as well, FYI) Manastache Lake looked to be perfect fit, and we only needed to drive about an hour outside of Ellensburg.

The Hipcamp Spot is overpriced, but what isn't around
Leavenworth? And it does have the world's largest firepit. ;)

Though after going "the speed of flowers" all day at Twin Peaks, we didn't find ourselves at our new trailhead until 5:30 pm. Thankfully there was an even easier option of only going 2 miles to the first "Lost Lake," but you know what a super easy backpack-able lake on a Saturday means, right? Yep...we counted a dozen tents in the large area with ALL boys...mostly young boys. Loud, excited, and now free to run wild in nature boys. 

Maybe the boys cleared the trail? Whoever did...
THANK YOU

Believe it or not, there was still room for two old ladies to squeeze in - but we sure didn't feel like we belonged at this party. So we kept moving and PRAYED there was another spot further in. 

Last site on Lost Lake. Thank you Jesus.

With a gorgeous view...but LOUD frogs. 
Maybe even louder than the boys?

We left our salvation spot in the morning and then day packed our way up to see the HUGE Manastache Lake. We made it all the way to the end, despite some route finding and snow challenges - I mean, we had to see the fishing bench I read about on those trip reports.

Of course the camp spot there was already occupied by boys as well...but only two, of the "men" variety, who were kind enough to let us barge through; one even took a picture for us.

Nice guys; though they didn't bring us
 our morning Bloody Mary's as requested  ;P

So the 2 miles to Manastache, then the 2 back to our tents, then the last 2 out to our car made a perfect day with plenty of time to drive home. Both Heidi's knee and my backpack performed beyond our expectations, so we are hoping to get a few other more challenging hikes in this season. My "Things to Know" list below as usual. Happy "get away from the boys" trails! ;)

Things to Know:

1) The last 9-ish mile non-paved road feels like FOREVER because it's badly washboarded and you have to go slow. Any car could make it though, and the parking is pretty large and it has a decent toilet. 

2) This is MOTOR bike territory; probably it's biggest downfall. But we didn't even see one, most likely because the snow isn't fully melted out. So this is the time to go - plus there were NO bugs...but that will certainly change. 

3) There are two (dare I say lovely?) meadows that will be full of wildflowers soon, but no Balsamroot as far as I could tell.

4) The trail is simple to follow, except it has one intersection with signs that only have numbers. Turn left.