Lyman Lakes
Aug 11, 2009
by
caemlet
—
last modified
Aug 20, 2009 01:58 PM
- Type of Outing
- Multi-night backpack
- Read More in our Hiking Guide
- Hike: Lyman Lakes
- Region: Central Cascades -- Entiat Mountains
- Avg Rating: 3.00
- Why You Should Go Now
- Ripe berries
- Be Aware Of
- Bugs
Lower Lyman Lake - Charles Emlet
We began our annual 5-day backpack trip on August 11, 2009 with a morning ride up Lake Chelan using the Lady of the Lake II. By starting at Fields Point, you cut off at least an hour of boat ride (it is already two hours long) and slightly decrease your cost. After disembarking at Lucerne, we arranged for a bus ride up the 12 mile stretch of road to Holden Village. The bus ride costs $15.00 round trip and reservations for the bus are not required but are perhaps recommended. On our return trip we learned that the next day more than 200 people were leaving Holden. That would be a full bus.
With all the pre-hike travel, you don’t get started on the trail until early afternoon. We hiked the 4.7 miles to Hart Lake the first afternoon. The trail is in very good shape with no problems to note. Shortly before arriving at the lake we spotted a black bear in the brush. It was just a gentle reminder that we are in bear country and once again made me glad I bothered to bring my bear canister. The vast majority of campsites at Hart Lake are on the right (east) side of the lake as you arrive. We had a large group of 8, so this required us to spread out a bit. Bugs were pretty bothersome at Hart.
Day two began with a mid morning hike up to the lower Lyman Lake at 5598 feet. Rain greeted us as we worked our way up the two sets of switchbacks toward lower Lyman. It took the entire group about 3 or less hours to get up to Lyman from Hart. There is one trail junction that can be confusing. At the first junction a sign points you to either upper Lyman Lakes or Cloudy Pass (not referencing lower lakes at all). Part of our group misinterpreted the sign and headed up toward to upper lakes only to realize later the rest of the party was below. This is worth noting and mentioning to others as you hike in. It is the second trail junction within perhaps 2/10 of a mile that splits the trail from lower Lyman to Cloudy Pass. The clouds hung low at lower Lyman and many of the views were obscured. A doe served as a greeting party as lower Lyman and continually returned to eat grass around our camp.
On day three, we began to experience long hours of rain. Although we have had a dry and sunny summer in Washington, we managed to hit the week of rain in the higher elevations. The upper Lyman lakes were socked in and the views were all but non-existent. It rained sufficiently hard that fishing was not possible for the fishermen in the group and many of us just held up in the tents hoping for a good break in the weather – it never came. The morning of day four we decided to cut the trip short by a day as there was no sign the weather would break. It was unfortunate, as only one of the people in our party had seen Cloudy Pass and the array of peaks from that vantage point. The trip down to Holden Village was pretty quick, under 3 hours for the 9.3 or so miles to the village. Upstairs from the Hiking Haus at Holden showers are available and enjoyed by many of us. The bus ride back and the return trip on the Lady of the Lake were fine. By the time we reached Fields Point we were back in sun!
I have every intention of heading back up to Cloudy Pass in the future but will only do it when I have some flexibility in time or am fairly assured of good weather. The logistics and time for travel is too complicated to get up there and have bad weather and no views.
With all the pre-hike travel, you don’t get started on the trail until early afternoon. We hiked the 4.7 miles to Hart Lake the first afternoon. The trail is in very good shape with no problems to note. Shortly before arriving at the lake we spotted a black bear in the brush. It was just a gentle reminder that we are in bear country and once again made me glad I bothered to bring my bear canister. The vast majority of campsites at Hart Lake are on the right (east) side of the lake as you arrive. We had a large group of 8, so this required us to spread out a bit. Bugs were pretty bothersome at Hart.
Day two began with a mid morning hike up to the lower Lyman Lake at 5598 feet. Rain greeted us as we worked our way up the two sets of switchbacks toward lower Lyman. It took the entire group about 3 or less hours to get up to Lyman from Hart. There is one trail junction that can be confusing. At the first junction a sign points you to either upper Lyman Lakes or Cloudy Pass (not referencing lower lakes at all). Part of our group misinterpreted the sign and headed up toward to upper lakes only to realize later the rest of the party was below. This is worth noting and mentioning to others as you hike in. It is the second trail junction within perhaps 2/10 of a mile that splits the trail from lower Lyman to Cloudy Pass. The clouds hung low at lower Lyman and many of the views were obscured. A doe served as a greeting party as lower Lyman and continually returned to eat grass around our camp.
On day three, we began to experience long hours of rain. Although we have had a dry and sunny summer in Washington, we managed to hit the week of rain in the higher elevations. The upper Lyman lakes were socked in and the views were all but non-existent. It rained sufficiently hard that fishing was not possible for the fishermen in the group and many of us just held up in the tents hoping for a good break in the weather – it never came. The morning of day four we decided to cut the trip short by a day as there was no sign the weather would break. It was unfortunate, as only one of the people in our party had seen Cloudy Pass and the array of peaks from that vantage point. The trip down to Holden Village was pretty quick, under 3 hours for the 9.3 or so miles to the village. Upstairs from the Hiking Haus at Holden showers are available and enjoyed by many of us. The bus ride back and the return trip on the Lady of the Lake were fine. By the time we reached Fields Point we were back in sun!
I have every intention of heading back up to Cloudy Pass in the future but will only do it when I have some flexibility in time or am fairly assured of good weather. The logistics and time for travel is too complicated to get up there and have bad weather and no views.
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Black Bear below Hart Lake - Charles Emlet
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Hiking with my daughter above Hart Lake
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