First off, the GPS coordinates for the Spade Lake trailhead listed on the Spade Lake page are for the Davis Peak trailhead, not Waptus! However, the Waptus River trail lists the coordinates correctly. Don’t waste an hour and almost head off on the wrong trail like we did!
The trail to Waptus is well maintained, and features all kinds of terrain from gooey mud patches in shaded, dense forest, to scorching dry sandy stretches with no sun protection at all. Numerous spots along the river offer gorgeous views, making the miles roll off quickly. Horses are common on this trail, too – remember to give them lots of space. The first river crossing is at 3 miles in, and didn’t present any real challenge, we were able to rock hop across easily.
Next up is the horse ford at 8.5 miles. I would recommend bringing water shoes of some sort (I used my trail running shoes) rather than sandals or any kind of shoe that doesn’t completely attach to your foot. The water isn’t terribly fast moving, but definitely fast enough to whisk your shoes away real quick! The water came up a little more than mid thigh on me, (I’m 5’8”), but as long as you use poles, and you’ll be fine. Since there was only a half mile to Waptus, we didn’t change back into our hiking boots after the crossing. There are a bunch of camp sites at the first clearing when you get to Waptus, and access to the lake. These were all full by the time we got there (I’m assuming because it was a long, hot holiday weekend), so we continued down another ¾ quarter of a mile. These were full too, except one campsite right off the trail. We continued down the trail another 1000ft before not finding anything else available, and returned to the first spot, which we shared with another pair of hikers and their pup. It was warm enough to not put the fly on, and spent the evening watching a deer nibble on ferns right in front of our tent!
Because we had chosen Waptus and Spade lakes for their remoteness, only to find ourselves sharing a campsite, we woke up and hit the trail to Spade early. There are lots of blow downs on the trail, mostly a nuisance that throw you out of the zone, nothing unpassable. My Garmin recorded 2700ft of elevation gain, the majority of which is covered in the first 2.5 miles, and 4 miles total until you reach Spade Lake. The trail can get a little difficult to follow at times due to snow, and trail washouts that left us on a deer path. If you have a GPS I would highly recommend bringing it if you are unfamiliar with the trail. We brought spikes, but didn’t need them.
4 Hours later, and the work is well worth the reward, Spade Lake is breathtaking! There is still a fair amount of snow on the ground at the lake, and we watched a huge chunk of ice carrying whole trees slowly migrate across the water. An accidental fall through a snow bridge into a creek halted our exploration up the east side of the lake, so we opted to set up camp near some trees above the lake. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the sun, and watching the mountain goats on the ridge to the East. 3 other groups stayed the night, two over on the rocks at the base of the lake and another on a rocky outcropping half way up the lake.
There was a considerable amount of wind higher up in the trees on the ridges over night, but we were fine again without the fly. Some heavy, late night fog rolled in, but burned off by 6am. We made the 13.5 mile trip back to the car in 7.5 hours, including bathroom, lunch, and river crossing breaks. On the way down from Spade, we heard what we are pretty sure was a baby black bear crying out for mom. Not wanting to find ourselves accidentally separating a momma bear from her cub, we made our presence known, and had bear spray accessible. The trail eventually veered away from the cries, and we never saw mom or cub.
I would recommend doing this as a 2 night trip. 1 night is possible, but you won't be able to relax and enjoy the spectacular lakes.
Links to Strava for the data-inclined : )
https://www.strava.com/activities/1066403869
https://www.strava.com/activities/1066404056
https://www.strava.com/activities/1066404461
Comments