Wonderful weekend at Upper Lena Lake. It was gorgeous. The way there had some rough patches. As the description says, easy going to Lower Lena, then starts getting rougher, after. Since it's early yet, there were half a dozen blow downs that were pretty gnarly to get over (or under) but doable.
About 2 miles from Upper Lena, you'll come to a giant boulder and it will look like you'll need to go around it to the right. Instead, you need to climb what looks like a dry waterfall chute to the left. It's not well marked (we tried to build a cairn). The stream crossing about 1 mile from Upper Lena was OK, we got our feet a little wet but very doable. Take the lower crossing with the rope.
The lake itself is so beautiful, some bugs but manageable if you take precautions. On the way back down, there's an unmarked junction (likely a back way to the lower campground) that's a bit confusing, about 3/4 mile before the Lower Lena official junction. Make sure to continue on the upper trail (to the right), not the lower one.
It was rough-ish going but totally worth it!
Comments