Spade Lake #1337,Williams Lake #1030.1,La Bohn Gap,Dutch Miller Gap #1030,Dutch Miller Gap #1362,Waptus River #1310

We did a 6 day trip spending one night at Waptus Lake, 2 nights at Lake Williams and 2 nights at Spade Lake. We started our trip at the Salmon La Sac TH and hiked an easy, but dusty 8.5 miles to Lake Waptus on trail 1310. The hiker bridge is washed out and good signs directed us to the horse ford on trail 1329A. The river was about 40 feet wide, knee deep and was no problem with a pair of reef walkers. There is a large dusty, beaten down camping area at the head of the lake with the best views. We continued along the lakeshore and found some other fine campsites near the Spade Lake trail junction.

The next morning we headed up to lake Ivanhoe. We arrived early in the afternoon. It is beautiful, with tall cliffs surrounding the lake and deep blue water. There are a handful of small campsites on the penninsula on the NE side. We considered setting up camp there, but felt that it was a bit closed in and decided to head over Dutch Miller Gap to Lake Williams. We were both happy with our decision. Lake Williams is a gem. We found a perfect campsite on the small ridge just past the outlet with views across the lake and across the Middle Fork towards Summit Chief Mtn. The only downside to Lake Williams is that most of the shoreline is a bit marshy, but I would still consider it one of the most beautiful lakes I have ever been to in the Cascades.

We got an early start the next day and dayhiked to Chain Lakes and La Bohn Gap. The trail follows the W shore of the lake and comes to an old mine. A rough, steep bootpath goes uphill just to the left of the mine entrance. It's a bit sketchy at time, but not hard to follow.

Eventually, it comes to a boulder-filled gully. Cairns showed the way up the gully and the rock hopping wasn't difficult. There is also a cairned route that crosses the gully when you first get out of the trees that leads to a path in the woods that avoids some of the boulders. We took that on the way down. Eventually, we climbed a final grassy slope and reached the basin. It was a very warm bright sunny day and it was good to find some shade. We wandered around Chain Lakes on the polished granite and explored the remains of the Dutch Miller mining operations. We followed a well defined path to La Bohn Gap and La Bohn Lakes. The meadows, flowersand views down to the Necklace Valley we're remarkable.

We broke camp and we're on the trail the next day at 8 AM and headed back over Dutch Miller Gap on trail 1310 and 1362 and continued on the PCT to the intersection of trail 1337 up to Spade Lake, which we unfortunately, didn't arrive at until 1 PM. The 100 Hikes book recommends starting out from Waptus Lake no later than 7 AM, because of the steepness of the trail and the southern exposure. We both agreed! Do this hike early in the morning. It is a ball buster! There are no swithcbacks and lots of blowdown. It took us almost 4 hours to go 3.5 miles. At around 4600', the trail levels off for a bit and then continues to alternate between level/slightly downhill streches and steep ascents. The map shows the trail leveling off at 5200'. We found a stream with a fairly good flow at 4600"". There is also a place at that elevation where a well defined but lesser used trail goes off to the right. It is actually better to take this trail as it avoids some slippery scrambling through a washed out section of the trail a few yards ahead.

Spade Lake is a huge dramatic lake with grand views of peaks on the distant shore. There are a few ribs of polished granite near the outlet and a confusing array of trails that go over the top and around the many inlets of the lake. There are only a couple of spots for tents and they are not easy to find. We finally settled on a sandy beach, which would probably be underwater if the level of the lake was only a couple of feet higher. It was, however, another great campsite.

We had a fairly lazy day the next day. It was warm, sunny and still, and we we're feeling fortunate to have had 5 days of such great weather. We headed out on the fisherman's around the far side of the lake. We discoverd a few more camping areas along the first section of the trail. We had intended to hike up to Lake Venus, but decided not to do it when we found the footpath leading up to the lake to be overgrown. Had it not been so hot and had we not been so exhausted form the day before, we probably would have attemped it. We spent some time enjoying the beautiful meadows along that part of the lake and returned to our campsite for a swim, a bath and sunbathing. Spade lake is a wonderful place, but takes a bit of effort to get to. Follow the advice in the 100 Hikes book and start out early in the morning.

Our last day we hiked all the way out to Salmon La Sac, about 14 miles. On the way down from Spade Lake, we decided to keep track of the number of downed trees we had to either climb over or crawl under. We only counted those trees that we're large enough for us to break our stride. There were 30 significant trees up to the junction of the PCT and another 10 on the short section from the PCT to Waptus Lake. Our tax dollars at work!