Lake Dorothy and Bear Lake

The summer solstice strikes each year between June 20th and June 22nd, and much like the “death eaters” are called to their master once the magical tattoo is awakened, the Washingtonian backpackers are summoned once again into the mountains. (Harry Potter fans, anyone?)

We were blessed in 2019 (sorry, I’m still catching up on old hikes) with a forecast of a couple of beautiful days, instead of the June gloom that usually welcomes us on the the solstice. Though, June’s snowline was still low enough to rule out all the “good” backpack options. (Which is usually the case into at least early July.) 

There’s not a lot of talk about Lake Dorothy – or at least it’s not a destination that has popped up on my “must do” radar. But it came up in my searches for June hikes, and I also found it in my 1968 addition of “100 Hikes in Western Washington.” (Under “Snoqualmie Lake” – which you’ll eventually get to if you keep going.)  I did notice that none of these lakes made the cut for the newer 1998 publication, “100 Classic Hikes in Washington” (which I also have, and you should too) furthering my conclusion that this area must be sub-par. 

But beggars can’t be choosers, and Melissa and I were WAY overdue for a trip together, so we set out with open minds to what Lake Dorothy – or beyond – would have in store. 

One ford to consider after Lake Dorothy. Not difficult – just cold.

Besides an easy drive to get there, a huge parking lot with decent bathrooms available were also making Lake Dorothy look better by the minute. We enjoyed our walk together (even if Mel had to continually stop to wait for me) and before you knew it, our almost 2 miles were done and we were there. Knowing we could push on to Bear Lake (and then Deer, before hitting Snoqualmie) and hearing other’s complaints about how bad the mosquitoes had been overnight at Dorothy, we decided to venture further. It’s only another couple miles, but they are much harder with 700 feet in elevation, so as soon as we saw Bear Lake, it was looking good enough. 

It feels like another mile to actually get down to the lake, but it was worth the effort to pass on the first small campsite we came to before making the descent. And we were really glad we passed on Lake Dorothy, as for whatever reason, we didn’t find the bugs to be a problem at all at Bear.

I will be the first to confess confusion over what is legal when it comes to making a campfire, so I will claim the fifth in regards to whether we made one or not. What I will say is that IF you can make a legal fire, and you find everything is wet AF, these fire starters are AMAZING and can make it happen regardless.

Obviously, I was very wrong about this area being in anyway an inferior hiking destination, and I’m not worried that in writing this it will suddenly become overcrowded, because I now know it has always been far more popular than I had realized. In conclusion, I will encourage us all that we need to do our best to take care of our precious hiking areas, to never leave trash, and if you do make a fire, do so as carefully and wisely as possible, using only what is already on the ground. Not that we did that, I’m just sayin’. 😉 Happy trails!

I DID IT!! AND I WROTE A BOOK ABOUT IT!

It's been awhile since I've gotten back from the East Coast, but I didn't want to post on here until I finished my book. I hope you'll buy it, so you can hear all about my adventure. I think you'll find it entertaining. Plus, I have created a new website to document all the rest of my hikes. (UPDATE...that was a fail, so I transferred the stories on there back to here. Enjoy!) 

You can go straight to Amazon, and search "50 Days, 500 Miles, and 5 States When I Turned 50" and find my book that way. There is a paperback or kindle version available. So with a final farewell to this blog, I will bid you adieu with a photo dump from my 50 days. Happy trails everyone!!!

Last Lesson at Stuart Lake

I'm going to die. That is hiking lesson #56. It's true that I didn't want to mess up my perfectly serendipitous number of 55 hiking lessons learned these past 8 years, but I just had to go and do one more "trial run" before I leave in less than a week...and well, it just about killed me. And if a fairly moderate hike of 9 miles in 2 days (that would be only 4.5 miles a day) almost killed me, then I'll surely be a goner by day 3 of my "10 miles a day" excursion.

I'm blaming Leigh for this horrible insight. Of course she would win the lottery to camp at the ONE Enchantment lake I haven't seen yet. (Well, except for the Caroline Lakes, but do they really count?) She had such grand plans of staying all four nights at Lake Stewart, and using it as a base camp to explore the whole area...an agenda far too ambitious for me. BUT, I could take my own car and stay just one night! I mean, I really should make sure everything I plan on bringing to the East Coast makes sense and is in good working order. Plus, how could I say no to Lake Stewart?

You have to apply for and be lucky enough
to "win" a permit to camp anywhere in this specific
area in the Alpine Wilderness 

The crew before heading out to attempt their 20 mile goal
into the Enchantment core and back. I can't wait to hear how it went!

Leigh warned us all (five "suckers" she roped in) that the mosquitoes might be bad. I expected that...you can't go anywhere at the end of July and not encounter a fair amount of the little beasts. Though, what I did not expect was to get punctured 43 times...not including the bites that I believe are on top of bites. It was a full-out assault!!! It was like they were out for blood!! (Ba dum chhhh ;))

What could be more fun than hiking with a
head net? Root canal maybe?

And can I tell you something? I don't care what anyone tells you, nothing works but DEET. I made a huge mistake of trying to save pack weight by bringing my itsy bitsy hiker's size pen that was almost empty. I figured everyone else would be loaded up with the big guns and would share. And sure enough, they did have full size 6 oz spray cans...of the B.S. Skinsations brand. NOOOO!!! Leigh even gave me some of her peppermint essential oil as a last-ditch effort to fend them off. I'm pretty sure it only enhanced their dining experience; so from now on I'll be calling that "Mosquito Special Sauce". I hear the East Coast bugs are even worse...so yeah, I'm worried. I don't know how much more itching I can handle.

Stacia with her apple, and Leigh with her Fritos :)

Damn those little fu##**s!!!!

But the truth is, it was not bug bites that discouraged me most on this trip. It was the fact that in less than a mile I was so tired I wanted to sit down and cry. Seriously, I could barely keep moving. It really scared me. I was in my head BAD..."You think you can do 10 miles a day?!! You can't even do 1!!! You are pathetic!!!...and did I mention that you're going to die?"

I'm pretty sure it was the heat that sucked my energy; and the fact I was not hydrated well. (I guess a McDonald's milkshake doesn't really count for much...who'd a thunk? ;))
I believe this was the first time I've hiked in 90 degree temps, and now I know it short circuits my ability to effectively move my legs forward. This is problematic, considering 90 and up is the heat I'm heading towards...except it will be more humid. Yep, I'm going to die.

I love tree art!!

A mile past Lake Stuart and you will come to this
beautiful meadow. The trail is burnt out and a little tough to follow,
but it's worth the effort!!

But here's the thing; I eventually got to the camp. Slug slow, and bit to hell, but I made it. So I amend lesson #56 (which was a statement and not a lesson anyway) to this:  "Don't get discouraged when your mind tells you that you can't do it or that you are going to die. Just keep moving and you'll get there. Oh and drink more water, ya ding dong!!!"