Was looking for a family friendly hike "in between" Spokane and Seattle to meet the other half of the group at, one suitable for a little tike's first overnight while also showcasing alpine beauty: Sheep Lake checks all those boxes and more.
We arrived Saturday morning about 10:30 am to a nearly full parking lot on the coolest day of the summer so far. I imagine if the weather had been better, 10:30 would have been too late... but we successfully found parking and our group of five began the trek for a quick overnight trip. The cool weather also meant any smoke had been blow clear and the air was crisp and clean. The trail was flanked by ripe huckleberries all along the straightaway, until they faded at the switchbacks. They are ripe now and will surely soon be gone.
Even though the trail reminded me of a bipedal superhighway, we were pleasantly surprised by both the quantity and the vacancy of camping spots when we arrived. There were only two established camps from the night before that stayed over and only a few more campers arrived among the throng of day hikers. There are camp sites all around the lake and several went unused on an August Saturday night.
Fishing was fun, but the only success were itty bitty guys, which nonetheless pleased the kids immensely. The fog rolled in after dinner and the night proved cold and very soggy. At least three of the camps had sizable illicit campfires, which really irritated our kids who were a bit chilled. The fact that the largest wildfire in the state was burning just across the highway was not a fact lost on us, but I imagine the rangers were busy there instead of checking alpine basins for rogues.
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