Ingalls Creek

The trip spanned from Thursday late afternoon until Sunday late afternoon; July 2-5, 2009. We followed Ingalls Creek trail No. 1215 from the trailhead to Stuart Pass with a side trip to Ingalls Lake.

The grade is very mild all the way to the junction with trail 1229 to Longs Pass. It follows the creek most of the way, though at times it is only within earshot, not actually accessible. The first mile or so there is no water (which was more relevant to us on the way out on a very long hot day), but after that water is readily available either from the Ingalls Creek or the many other Creeks which flow across the trail. There are numerous fine campsites all along the trail, though I recall only one after leaving the area around Fourth before reaching the meadow just below Stuart Pass and we counted 7 tents there on our way out.

We camped the first night on Ingalls Creek about 4.5 miles from the trailhead, the second night up in the meadow beneath Stuart Pass and the third at an abandoned horse camp just west of the junction with the Fourth Creek Trail. While the meadow was by far the most beautiful, it was also the most replete with mosquitoes. The view north from Stuart Pass is worth the effort of getting there. We tried to traverse the ridge line to reach Ingalls Lake, but there was too much scrambling involved for our canine leader, so we retreated to the meadow and approached the lake from the southeast over the rocky butte. I had been to the lake twice before via trail 1390, but never from this side. To come upon it as we did from above was truly stunning with the added thrill of spotting Mt. Adams from a high point before reaching the lake. The lake was still about 75% frozen. It was a stunning hot summer day which seemed perfect in every respect except possibly that this time alone there were no mountain goats to be seen. Getting down from the lake was simple, since we now spotted the boot trail which descends just north of the cascading waterfall draining from the lake and switchbacks down to the meadow. To get there from down below, take the trail which forks to the left as you are heading up to Stuart Pass, about 100 meters past the obvious campsite.

We encountered snow only at Stuart Pass and on the approach to Ingalls Lake; otherwise the trail was snow-free. It was cleared to about Fourth Creek, after which there were some minor blow-downs but nothing that caused difficulty. Despite numerous warnings about rattlesnakes we neither saw nor heard any. We did see the usual abundance of wildflowers, especially red columbine. There are numerous nice swimming holes along Ingalls Creek between the trailhead and about Cascade Creek. We ran into a couple who were planning to scramble up to the Enchantments via Crystal Creek and wonder if they made it. It didn’t look like something I would attempt with a fully loaded pack.

In summary, this was an easy grade hike in to one of the most spectacular lakes and peaks in the Alpine Wilderness. Bugs moderate.