Well, we'd hoped that Mildred Lakes might escape, but no ...  sigh.

And it's surged much deeper into the upper skykomish - across into jefferson county between mount hopper and o'neil peak.

We tackled Mildred Lakes as a day hike on Sunday. It was a long, hard, and rewarding hike, capped off by a lovely swim at the largest of the three lakes. While mosquitoes and route-finding may deter some folks, if you’re prepared for both eventualities, you’ll have a great (all-day) outing!

Our group (four adults and a dog) arrived at the Mildred Lakes trailhead around 10am. There were two other vehicles in the lot. Those two groups had overnighted at the lakes, and we saw them heading back to the trailhead while we were hiking out.

This hike has somewhat of an M-shaped elevation profile: we climbed uphill after leaving the trailhead, descended to Huckleberry Creek, then did the arduous root-ladder climb to where the lakes sit beneath Mount Lincoln and the Sawtooth ridge.

Despite having done this hike twice before and carrying an inReach, I had trouble navigating us to the largest Mildred Lake. We followed a social trail too far east, then slowly forged our way back west, around the first lake, and eventually onto the primary trail. It was maybe an hour-long detour, and we arrived at the lake around 1:45pm.  

The hikers we’d seen earlier told us the lakes were very buggy. Likewise, a WTA trip report from Friday had made note of bugs. Honestly, all this feedback about bugs tempered our expectations, so by the time we actually made it to the lakes, the bugs didn’t seem all that bad. Also, I might’ve felt more daunted by bugs if we were spending an entire night at the lakes. Instead, we swam, doused ourselves in bug spray during lunch, then turned back around 3pm. The mosquitoes were manageable for an hour. For a day or more, maybe not.

Tired legs made the descent back to Huckleberry Creek a tough challenge, dog included. In hindsight, I think the navigational detour, plus lots of cold-water swimming, plus an arduous hike, was too much exertion for our Lab. But he was a good sport, as were all us humans! Our group arrived back at the trailhead by 6pm. In total, our eight-hour hike was 10.7 miles and 3,500 feet of total elevation gain.

This is a very special place, and it feels as rugged of a day hike as you can find in the Olympics. With the right set of expectations and appropriate planning, Mildred Lakes can be a 10/10 outing.

The lake is nice, but you will need to spray your clothes with Permethrin prior to at least try and ward off the bugs. I did have other bug spray as well because they are vicious at the top. Going up wasn't too bad until you got to the first River crossing. It wasn't very clear which way to cross and where but you're going to cross the first set of big logs and then look right for the pink trail marker.. The trail is very hard to navigate once you actually can start seeing the lakes. You're going to go around the top of the second to last big lake and make sure you get to the open area on the 2o'clock side of the lake before you find the next trail to the actual Big Lake. Some not nice person took down part of the pink trail markers as I was heading down so I did get lost over the halfway mark going down. Don't take trail markers! There are better Lakes but this wasn't bad because it was less crowded. I would give yourself 8 hours round trip surprisingly.

We were a team of 7 doing Mount Lincoln from Mildred Lakes.  Mildred Lakes trail was pleasantly easy to follow this time.  We didn't get off trail till intentionally bushwhacking across to the head of lower Mildred to cut down on miles.  The snow was firm and patchy starting around 3200ft of elevation.  The trail to upper Mildred was a bit harder to read, but we eventually made are way over the creek and to the lake.  If I'm remembering correctly, that was 4 of 4 creek crossings all of which could have consequences if one were to fall of the downed trees used for the crossing.  

Lakeside and up the way 50 yards were enough established campspots to comfortably house 7 tents and a community kitchen.  There was some patches of snow around the lake, but plenty of dirt and rock to setup on as well.  

We started our ascent at 5am to utilize daylight and whatever firmness the colder air of the night provided for the snow.  There are a series of benches that you can use to traverse the lake to the base of Lincoln if you ascend pretty quickly after crossing the 2 upper Mildred lakes.  Currently there is a nice covering of consolidated snow on what is otherwise boulder fields.  Not sure that snow will be around much longer, but certainly made easy going for this trip.   There is a fairly open valley at the bottom of Lincoln apron 4450 elevation,  from there we ascended to the ridge line just to the southeast of the peak.  Once on the Ridgeline (approx 5000ft elevation), we geared up for the snowfield and couloir ahead.  There is a bit of a sketchy pass from the ridge line to the snowfield, but the snow was firm and made for a reasonably comfortable transition.  The snow field to couloir is a moderate trudge up.  

At the base of the couloir we discussed our team approach and agreed on a running belay system with 2 rope teams of 4 and 3.  We left the pickets in place as we knew we would use them on the descent.  There are 2 serious hazards to contend with in the couloir.  The first is some exposed rock at the base of the couloir.  On its own, easy enough to avoid on the approach.  However, the fall line would funnel any falling climber directly into that band of rocks.  The second is near the top of the couloir, where this years snow is melting back from the permanent snow finger in the couloir.  There is a pretty deep (8ft?) hole and snow bridge that connects the perma-snow to the remaining 20 ft of snow to the very top of the couloir.  

After the couloir there is an easy class 3 maybe 4 scramble up a gully to get on the summit block.  One needs to go south on the snow around the summit till you see a gully with some trees and some pink flagging.  We took off our crampons and scrambled up the gully to the summit ridge.  From there it's an obvious, but careful climb and squeeze through some rocks to get to the summit.  

We were absolutely blessed with spectacular weather and views from the peak.  Great day, super fun climb, hard to beat conditions.  With all the heat coming in the next couple days, that route will be much harder with the snow melting out.  

Snow & Huge bear:

The trail to Blueberry creek 1.1 miles in was clear.  There was some snow to cross after the first creek crossing (@ Blueberry creek).  The second ridge was clear of snow until the top.  At the summit of the second ridge, it was entirely covered with 2-4 feet of packed snow.  It was easy enough to cross with only boots.  From the top of the second ridge all the way into the lakes, there was only about 5% of the trail that was snow free.  The snow was 2-6 feet deep and was easy to cross, because it was solid.  However there were some times that I, "post-holed," and was hip deep in snow, or over a void in the snowpack.

The snow made a 3 hour hike into a 6 hour hike.  I was actually tired and cramping when I reached upper Mildred.  Never had it taken me so long to get there before.  Next, I was forced to return home, rather than spend the night at upper Mildred.

About 50 feet before I entered upper Mildred Lake, I smelled bear.  Two steps later, I then stepped directly onto his bed.  It had some shed hair on a place that was dry and obviously a bed.  Withing four feet of either side of the bed, were two extremely large bear droppings.  I've never seen bear droppings this big -- except in Alaska where there are griz.  One dropping was very fresh.  My hair stood up, I knelt down to actually check for heat coming off the, "log. " I listened and thought.  This log of bear crap was as long as my fist and forearm; it had the thickness/diameter of my fist.  Had I not been in the Olympic Mountains, I'd swear that this was a large Grizzly turd.

I've hiked in the Olympic mountains for 51 years and have never had the need for bear spray.  However, I wished then that I had brought it.  I backed out immediately and worked my way to the lower lake.  At the lower lake I had to rest, water up and take in some salts, because my legs were exhausted and cramping.  I watched for the bear to follow my track around the Lower Mildred Lake while I rested.  After a 30 minute rest, I hustled up and out to the top of the second ridge.  In short, I made my way home without incident.

Just know that there is a bear at Upper Mildred.  I'm calculating that it is a large male black bear.  This time of year they are very hungry and not very agreeable to humans.  I'd would suggest that one wait till July before returning and to bring all needed strategies and items to ensure one's safety in an area with a large male black bear.