American Lake, Dewey Lake & Naches Peak Loop — Saturday, Sep. 10, 2011

Hiked from Tipsoo Lake/Naches Peak Loop trail to American Lake via the Dewey Lake trail, Pacific Crest Trail. We had gorgeous weather and the wildflowers were amazing! I couldn't have asked for more! The hike is a bit more strenuous than the statistics would have you believe. The ups and downs are steeper than I expected so the total elevation gain was substantially more than the 1500' difference from start to finish. I would rather have spent a resting day at the lake than hiked back out the very next day. It was so pretty and that would have been easy to do. Muskitoes and flies were out, but I used dryer sheets (in my pockets - someone told me it would work) and bug spray and I escaped fairly unharmed by them. There is one downed tree to cross over just after Dewey lake, but it is easy to pass over. No snow!