July 1-2, 2003
(Use the link below to see the photos.)
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The Alpine Lakes Wilderness covers a sizable portion of the state of Washington — 362,789 acres to be exact. More than 700 lakes and mountain ponds dot the glacier-carved terrain of dense forests of Douglas fir, cedar, spruce and western hemlock; open meadows; rocky ridges; and rugged peaks along the crest of the Cascade Mountain Range. Some slopes are permanently cloaked with snowfields. Precipitation ranges from 180 inches of per year (largely as snow) in the hills to as little as 10 inches along the grasslands east of the crest, where ponderosa pine and lodgepole pine reign (as opposed to rain). Congress designated the Wilderness Area in 1976. Prior to that, aggressive mining and logging operations punched numerous access roads into the area, creating a wildly irregular boundary to this very popular (read: overcrowded) area. That the Pacific Coast Trail runs through the forest only adds to the human pressure on the environment. But hikers are, by and large, good humans. I hiked a portion of the Wilderness in the central Snoqualmie-Mount Baker National Forest, about one hour east of Seattle. By sandwiching the visit between a weekend and a holiday, I missed the crowds, although I didn't miss them much. I met 28 people and three dogs over both days. I didn't quite cover all 362,789 acres of the Wilderness, but you wouldn't know it to ask my knees. The weather was most cooperative and the entire trail was gorgeous. True, I spent both days mainly serving as a mosquito buffet, but Nature can be cruel. It's all part of the adventure.[Some of the previous information is adapted, or freely quoted, from wilderness.net, without any permission whatsoever. I thank them for the information and for not suing me. Visit their site!] |
| Need a visual? OK, here's the route, courtesy of USGS with some assistance from the Topo! program from National Geographic. The yellow path is the car beater forest road off of I-90; the red trail, beginning at the Talapus Lake trailhead, is the human beater. I took the side trail to the west side of Olallie Lake, then backtracked and continued on. I also did a little scouting around the campground at Lower Tuscohatchie, mostly to wait out the mosquitos; so I figure the entire trip at around 12 miles. My legs figure more like 147. |
