Backpacking. Silence. Self-Discovery.
The first day, hubby and I knew that getting a few miles on the trail was not our end goal for day one. But rather get a campsite near the trailhead and just breathe before we head out.
We spent the first night between West Cultus and Big Cultus, on this lookout overlooking Big Cultus. Our view was beautiful and the silence was healing. We were able to try our new backpacking equipment like the Jetboil Flash, Platypus Gravity Works, and GSI Minimal Duelest cookset.
We were fortunate to enjoy the lake when it wasn't busy. The lake previously sent a notification that they were not going to be open this summer season due to having severed extreme damage from last winters storm. But luckily, they notified its previous tenants in July that they were reopening. By that time dozens of if not hundreds of people had already booked their summer plans elsewhere. When we arrived, the third week of August, it was silent minus the rumblings of one or two jet boats. It was peaceful and wonderful.
As I sat looking across the lake while holding a steaming cup of tea, I could not get over the silence. The lack of noise. The lack of everyday city noise. I am reminded that I need to listen to more natural silence, away from internet noise, tv noise, life noise, and replenish.
The first night left me relentless and uneasy as I tried to become accustomed to the new noises around my tent. Needless to say at one point I thought someone was going through our site and freaked out my husband with my over imagination. I eventually was able to drift to sleep and eagerly awoke for the second day.
The second day of our trip was a beautiful one. Fog had floated over the lake and the sky was clear. Water boiled and coffee was made as I silently enjoyed the scenery in front of our campsite. The humorous part of this trip so far was the fact that my husband bear bagged our trash up a tree and got the back stuck. This fun activity took about 45-minutes to get the bag down but was rewarded with a hot breakfast.
As we headed out, our goal was to camp on Mink Lake. This was recommended out of Doug Lorain's "100 Hikes in Oregon" book. The book was published in 2002, so a lot has changed in terms of trial popularity and the big forest fire that happened in 2004 which damaged thousands of acres of land. We had to hike almost 10 miles in order to get to Mink Lake. We started on Winopee lake Trail, detoured to Snowshoe Lake Trail, followed the PCT for .5 a mile before going down in a gulley towards the lake.
On the way towards Mink Lake, we visited half a dozen other lakes. Muskrat Lake is the first lake you will see off the trail, even with a log trapper cabin that was built in the 40s. As you continue on Winopee Lake Trail, you eventually will come upon Winopee Lake. Don't be disappointed by the surrounding swamp/marshy area, the lake does open up. We didn't get to see the lake in its glory because the trail split as we continued to follow Snowshoe Lake Trail. But our disappoint was rewarded with Snowshoe Lake which is below the trail due to being nestled on a cliff face. The lake was large, but small in comparison to Winopee Lake and Mink Lake but bigger than Muskrat Lake. We stopped and rested for a bit on this lake because the rock outcropping provided an amazing view. After resting up, we continued. The scenery was green and bright with many opportunities for water.
After Snowshoe Lake there was Upper Snowshoe Lake, Long Lake, Puppy Lake, And Mac Lake. Lakes that you all could see from the trail and access. My feet were starting to hurt after Mac Lake, so I was excited once we joined the PCT. The 2 miles down to Mink Lake are worth the work because you will not be disappointed by the views and campsites. Our book suggested that the best campsites are on the north side of the lake, there is a trail that rims the entire lake. The lake sits at the bottom of a valley, so when you turn off the PCT and heads towards Mink Lake you have about two miles of uphill and downhill climbing before you reach the lakes edge.
We camped at an old log shelter that is immediately off the trail. The shelter is covered in old backpacker initials. As I explored the shelter, a pair of hiking books and a Mountain House meal were left for the next weary traveler. Obviously this shelter, despite loosing half of its roof, had housed hundreds of backpackers.
As camp was made and our hungry stomachs were fed, I retreated into the tent to rest and hunker down into my sleeping bag.
On this part of our trip, I realized that backpacking sometimes brings the worst in me as a wife. If a couple wants to know if they will make it in marriage try tying a 20-foot kayak on the roof of a car or go backpacking for a couple of days. You will argue and fight, but you learn to communicated with each other. I say this because I had to relearn how to be patient and speak to my husband when I am on trips with him. I lead our group because I set a reasonable pace but I have to remember to speak up and clearly say my words because my husband can't always hear me due to being behead of him. I sometimes have to repeat what I say which frustrates me but its because my husband can't hear me.
I have to relearn to be patient.
I also have to learn to give my husband more encouragement because sometimes his confidence isn't the same as mine which makes him nervous and uncertain. In times like that, I don't say anything but give him room to think and process.
Backpacking as a couple is a wonderful thing but you have to learn how to speak to each other. Learn to process and give each other space but most of all enjoy the time with each other. My highlight of the second day was sitting with my husband at both Snowshoe Lake and Mink Lake just enjoying nature and the silence around us. God is good and it's amazing and wonderful that we get to share his playground with Him.
On the third day, a backpacker is a little more alert to how their body feels and what parts of their body are screaming at them. At this point, I could feel bruising along my waist due to my backpack waistband and my feet were starting to rub in certain patterns that I needed to be aware of in case of blisters started to form. My husband had managed to create a lovely blister on his big toe, but moleskin and climbing tape put him back to working order.
We woke up super late on day three. Before we settled in for the night, a fellow PCT backpacker had set up camp in the same area as us. By the time we awoke, at 9:30am, our neighbor had left. I heard him rummaging around his gear at around 6am that morning before I drifted back to sleep. After making breakfast and tearing down camp, we had set off at 10:30am. Super late start in the backpacking world. The previous day we were already hiking for two hours but you live and learn. Our goal was to reach Stormy Lake which was about 7 miles south from Mink Lake. On the way we had run into three groups of PCT backpackers, these being thru-hikers and others were weekend backpackers. All these people were friendly and stopped to chat for a bit before we went our separate ways. We were going North-to-South on the PCT while all of the people we had run into were going South-to-North. The trail was mostly cleared but there were some areas that hadn't been cleared which made my job in climbing over them fun with my short legs. At one point I was cussing up a storm when a particular log was suspended almost hip level, thus making the climb over more difficult with a heavy pack. I had just cleared the log when another backpacker group of three college age boys stumbled upon us or more like heard my ranting from around the bend.
From Mink Lake, a hiker will see a variety of scenery ranging from rocky hillsides, recovering forest floors, and dense forests. There is an area called Cougar Flats which looked interesting to explore but was quiet a ways from the trail. The area is a large flat area that is surrounded by dense forests, interesting little area.
We continued and make it Stormy Lake. On the way we passed many smaller lakes and ponds which gave us a wonderful viewing of the local wildlife aka mosquitoes. By the time we reached Stormy, I wanted to retreat into the tent and hide. In Doug Loraines book, he mentioned that there were quiet a few good campsites along Stormy Lake. My husband and I could understand why because the lake sits at the base of Irish Mountain which could be seen from the lakeside. Sadly, our view of the mountain was covered in a layer of smoke due to the large forest fire that was happening in the surrounding area.
As we made camp, we spent some time relaxing next to the lakeside. On this trip we brought our Eno double nest which we had hung at both Stormy and Mink Lake. My husband enjoyed relaxing in the Eno after a full day of hiking while I napped in the tent. After dinner we enjoyed a hot cup of tea in the tent and reviewed the map to make the game plan for the next morning. The Irish Mountain and Mink Lake loop was about 32 miles in length, we had already relatively hiked 15 miles. So far so good, we were excited to get more miles under us.
The final day of the trip was both amazing, tiring and my highlight of our four night trip. We awoke at around 6:30am and cleaned up camp to get on the trial by 8am. We quickly ate our breakfast because the mosquitoes were out for a fight. Oh my gosh they were terrible! From Stormy Lake we descended the PCT. The morning air was cold but clear. Brahma Lake is relatively a mile below Stormy and is a beautiful place to camp. Brahma is wider than Stormy but shallower. As we continued the trail we ran into fellow PCT backpackers. All were curious how we got past Elk Lake which was reported to be the last accessible part of the PCT due to the forest fire. We shared what information we knew and continued on our way. The descent from Stormy was pleasant and shaded. The scenery combined both forest rock faces and swamp areas. Mosquitoes were constantly about and ready for a bite.
By 11am we had left the PCT and made it it to Irish Lake and Irish-Taylor Campground. The campground is a rustic one where you have to haul your own trash and water, but the campsites around the lake are well worth it. The only caveat to this is you have to have a high clearance 4-wheel drive pickup truck in order to make it up the two-mile rugged dirt road. No normal full sized car or Subaru could clear some areas of the road. We ran into Fish and Wildlife on the way down and they were driving a high clearance Chevy but even then they too were taking their time on the road.
We took our first big break right off Taylor Lake which is close to the PCT trail marker, at little less than half a mile. The views are amazing. We even strung up our Eno and kicked off our boots for 45-minutes. Hard work was definitively rewarded.
After our break we traveled along the dirt road for two miles. There we came upon a trail marker stating the miles to West Cultus and Deer Lake. Deer Lake was 5 miles from the trail head while West Cultus was 6 1/2. We eagerly returned to the trail but were awarded with more lakes to view. The first lake we stopped at was Kershaw lake. The water was deep and a rich blue-green. Mosquitoes were down tremendously with the constant breeze and there were plenty of areas to potentially camp. As we left Kershaw we continued along the trail towards Phantom Lake which is also an impressive lake to potentially camp at. But our goal was Deer Lake, so we continued. Phantom Lake was about a mile and a half from Merle Lake, a must camp place according to Doug Lorrianes book. At this point my husband and I had hiked nearly 10 miles and it was almost 1pm. We were getting tired and fast. By the time we reached Merle Lake, it slowly was dawning on me that I possibly couldn't continue for another two miles to Deer Lake.
Merle Lake is indeed a beautiful lake. There is one very good campsite that sits above the lake. The mosquitoes didn't appear to exist around this lake and the water was beyond beautiful. At this point, hubby made the executive decision and began setting up camp. In the end, Merle Lake almost tops Mink Lake.
As the sun continued to rise and then slowly fall, I was just amazed at the beauty of the lake and how not that many people had not passed by. This lake is personally my favorite out of all the lakes we saw on this trip and I will hopefully come back.
