Three night, 4 days girls backpack trip!!
Day 1: Hiked To Hyas Lake and pushed on towards Marmot. Plenty of water sources through this first length to refill. Lots of muddy terrain right before Hyas. Bugs were a nuisance at Hyas but bearable if you kept moving, however when camping the first night at Marmot, our group made dinner and was tent bound due to mosquitoes. On a Sunday night there were still a handful of sites but we claimed one of the last, so busier than expected. Swimming was amazing and worth it! SOOO many berries along this entire hiking stretch.
Day 2: Made the rough hike to Jade Lake. Definitely unmaintained. The trail is obvious in most parts. Only difficult to find once you are in the talus/boulder fields. Looked for cairns, helped us a lot, although when coming down we used a different route/path, so there are multiple ways up. Very few spots left at Jade (Monday night). We got lucky and claimed one of the last that could see the lake from up high, but we really had to squish our 3 tents into it. Nice water source and Pika activity right next to our spot. Same day we made the hike up to Dip Top Gap, but did not go down to Pea Soup. The snow field is still very long but firmly packed so hiking up wasn't too bad. For me, poles were essential, no need for spikes or traction, there was some ice and packed snow that got slippery. Coming down we glissaded just with out shorts and had a blast although wouldn't recommend it. Bring a trash bag or pad! Swimming again was amazing and refreshing after the long up hill day, feels great in the high temps we had.
Day 3: Tuesday we packed up camp, hiked down to Marmot. More spots opened up we noticed. Had one more dip before the hike down. We took the side trail to Lake Clarice just to check it out and see if camping was possible. Trail is obviously not well traveled, very overgrown in parts. We couldn't find any obvious way to even get down to the lake once there as trees and underbrush is too thick. We found two spots that could barely fit a single person tent, so no go for our group of three. Again, berries were everywhere! We decided to hike all the way back to Hyas. Very long slog downhill. Once at Hyas we camped at the upper Lake, the first site we came across that has no Lake access but we just needed to sleep. CAUTION: Tons of bald faced hornets. So if you are allergic, find another site. They loved our tents and wouldn't stop until the sun went down.
Day 4: Made the easy hike out! Most sites at Hyas Lake were open (Wednesday). Still lots of mud. I wore my bug net on this walk back.
If you have a bug head net, definitely bring it. We also all treated out clothes beforehand with permethrin and I would 100% recommend as it worked very well and made the bugs bearable. I never got bit when wearing the pieces I treated (sun shirt and loose thin pants).
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