Hilariously I did actually run into a bunch of gnats but I'm still going to say bugs were not an issue. Trail to Lake Ann is very well maintained and a very pleasant run. It becomes fully snow covered basically where the basin trail splits to Lake Ann. From here there were prints to follow, though they weren't quite on track. With good visibility, once you hit the ridge it's line of sight to the lake or to Fortune Peak. Fortune Peak was snowier than it looked. The snowdrifts were unexpectedly deep and early in the morning I had a tough time kicking steps through the crust in trail runners (oops). Going down the backside to the Ingalls trail was a posthole fest thanks to slushy snow hiding gaps in the talus, but just about every route "goes" so routefinding shouldn't be too hard. The trail to Ingalls was well packed, arguably didn't even need spikes. Finding the Ingalls Way trail around the back of Ingalls was tricky but I managed to cut down to the first major switchback, which with only a dusting of snow was visible from the lake. Followed that down into the valley until the junction with the Longs Pass trail. Longs Pass trail was snow covered as well, meaning a bit more navigation since it wasn't as well traveled. Once at the pass, the trail down to the Lake Ingalls junction and parking lot was well traveled and mostly melted, just patchy snow. Details and pics in the blog!
Trip Report
Lake Ingalls, Longs Pass, Lake Ann & Fortune Peak via Esmeralda Basin (Esmerelda) — Sunday, Oct. 15, 2017
Snoqualmie Region > Salmon La Sac/Teanaway
Type of Hike
Day hikeTrail Conditions
Trail in good conditionRoad
Road suitable for all vehiclesBugs
No bugsSnow
Snowfields to cross - could be difficult
Comments
Good running into you that day. Glad you made it up Fortune and beyond. Pretty adventurous trip!
Posted by:
jrod on Oct 21, 2017 08:50 AM
You too! Did you end up going over Fortune? I ran into a few folks on the way down who had seen you (at least, they saw someone who mentioned me so it was either you or two girls I ran into at the lake!)
Posted by:
Eve on Oct 23, 2017 09:54 AM
Didn’t head up Fortune. Once I got to the pass, I met that family of 4 superheroes with the kid proudly telling me he broke the trail all the way to the lake for me, ha. I looked up the ridge towards Fortune to see if I could see where you went but you were gone. You were on a mission! I headed down to Lake Ann and then north to Van Epps pass, and beyond that up another prov. peak scramble. Fun day!
Posted by:
jrod on Oct 23, 2017 08:55 PM