Fortune Ponds — Monday, Jul. 14, 2014

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - West

Arrived at the trailhead and we were the first (and only) car there. There is parking for at most 3-4 cars along the side of the road. We started our hike a little before 10:00, though wish we could've started earlier given that we knew it was going to be a hot one (over 80 F). The trail starts going up immediately with a few switchbacks and through forest so at least it was shaded. You may want to carry ample water with you as the first two miles there are no streams. After that there are plenty to get you through to the ponds. At two miles the trail is not as steep and but is a bit rocky in places with a few easy to manuever around trees to deal with. At 3.5 miles is the ford across Meadow Creek. If you don't want to get your feet wet, there are a few logs a bit upstream that you can use to make way across without any difficulty though there is a bunch of devils club that are near those logs at the other end. There is still some snow patches after the ford and hopefully you will have saved some energy as the second climb to the ponds begins, some fairly steep sections. At least this section offer a few views of the meadows and some peak. About a 3/4 mile from the lower pond there is some snow that you have to negotiate in order to find the trail further down. Just walk around and find the trail again, you shouldn't get lost. Then thinking your near the ponds on a straight section has you fooled as you have to go another 0.5 miles and descend a bit and you can see the lower pond, which is beautiful and worth the long hike in. We stayed for an hour, had lunch, took off our boots and soaked our feet in the lower pond. We were too tired to attempt finding the upper pond so we will have to return in the future to find it, but maybe taking the Pear Lake Trail instead. the mosquitos were not bad at all at the ponds bit sometimes irritating on our return trip. Upon returning, it had gotten really hot with nary a breeze so it was a bit tough though at least it was mostly downhill. At the ford, we just trampled across and getting our boots and socks wet felt good. Arrived back at the car at around 6:10 PM....so we were all alone on this hike and it was so nice. Definitely a must do again but will start earlier or camp overnight as we want more time at the pond and to explore the side trails around there.