Tunnel Creek, Trap Lake & Hope and Mig Lakes — Friday, Jul. 19, 2013

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - West

Started with a stop at the ranger station. I had heard from WTA members that there were some trees down over the PCT from Hope Lake to trap lake. They told use the trees had been cleared. We head up to the tunnel creek trailhead. We were the 2nd group to arrive on this Friday. That group was just leaving when we arrived. They were heading to the Thunder Mt Lakes. We geared up and headed up the Tunnel Creek Trail. It was about the same as last week except for the WTA repair was complete. Steep incline and lots of rocks and dirt and roots. Lots of growth on the trail. It took us about 50 minutes to hike up the trail and we caught up with the other group at Hope lake where we also took a short break. We then headed south on the PCT from there. About 200 up in elevation we met a hike heading North on the PCT. He told use there were a number of downed trees, at least one he bush wacked around. It all there were about 7 downed trees along the way to Trap Lake. There were also a few hanging trees over the trail that we could duck under. Along the climb from Hope Lake we also came to some snow on the trail and after crest at 5200 ft. The remaining trip along the PCT to Trap Lake was nice. Some wet spots but mostly dry. We arrived at the trap turn off and descended to the lake. There was some debris on the lake trail and some low hanging trees. The weather was spectacular for July with great view of the valley and mountains surrounding us. We arrived at the lake after almost 3 hours from Hope lake. There was no ice in the lake but a few snow packs at the edge of the lake. We set up camp right at the meadow towards the north end of the lake. As we set our tents we began to be devoured by mosquitoes despite the quite hefty wind. We decided to try some fly fishing but did not have any luck. But we decided to move camp past the lake outlet a little further away from the meadow hoping that the mosquitoes would be a little less. No luck. We did take in some great views but decided in the morning to head back to Mig lake and see if the bugs were any less. We trekked out of Trap Lake and headed a little South on the PCT so we could get a nice view of the lake from above then head backtracked and head North on the PCT. It is a pretty easy hike from Trap to Hope lake and we cruised it in an hour and a half. We passed a few groups, some going over the pass, one heading to Trap lake (they said they had mosquito nets) for an overnight and one day hiker group heading to Trap. About 10 minutes from Hope we did spot a Marmot sunbathing on a big rock. We made it to Mig Lake in under another 30 minutes from Hope. We passed a ranger and let her know the conditions on the PCT. She was heading up to Trap Lake and she said she would clear a couple of the smaller blockages. Hopefully a few of the bigger ones get cleared. We arrived at Mig lake and no one was around. We dropped our packs and checked things out. We decided to try some fly fishing. The fly hatch was pretty heavy and the fish were munching on them heavily. Swallows were also hitting the water in packs and it was quite fun to watch. No fish so we ate lunch. We realized then that the mosquitoes were quite heavy (not as bad as trap) so were made the decision to skip camping and hike out later. We tried some more fly fishing and finally caught one nice trout. Since we had eaten lunch, we released it. A few groups came through all with different destinations. We headed back out about 3:05p and arrived back at our car at 4:40p so we made some decent time. A good trip overall even though we cut it short a little. A note on the bugs. We had 'deet' products and the mosquitoes really could car less. Out only savior was to hang out in the tent, which is not what we wanted to be doing. If you kept moving you were mostly okay.