Marmot Lake, Deception Lakes, Waptus Lake via Waptus River & Deep Lake — Sunday, Jul. 21, 2019

Troop 282 from Gig Harbor took on a 50 miler this summer.  We had a range of scouts from 12 - 16 years old on this hike.  1st the weather was phenomenal, granted that has nothing to do with the hike but sure helps keep spirits up.  I'm not a salesman for 3M bug cream but I've now been on two trips full of mosquitos and that stuff is way better than even the 98% deet stuff.

Day 1: Deception Lakes

This day was one of the hardest days we've had on trail.  It took us 11 hours on trail to reach Deception Lakes, lots of elevation and miles, there is a spot where we had to figure out where the trail went as it crossed a river and there was another spot where about half the troop switched to water shoes and forded the river but it wasn't even knee deep.  Bugs were terrible at the lake here but with the 3M bug cream it wasn't too bad.  The trail aside from the river crossings, this was one of my favorite parts but may concern some people, was in great shape.

Day 2: Marmot Lake

Another long and hard day for a group like ours but we made it this time before dark, Marmot lake was huge.  What I've heard was Jade Lake is mind blowing but we didn't make it there.  Trail was in great shape and we ran into some PCT Thru hikers heading north and that was alot of fun.  Bugs were terrible here but with the 3M bug cream it wasn't too bad.

Day 3 and 4: Deep Lake

Long hike but elevation wasn't nearly what we had experienced the previous two days.  We hiked by Cathedral Rock and there was a pretty difficult and technical stream crossing with lots of rocks and there were signs about no stock crossing because it would have been really difficult for a horse to do this.  Heading North this stream crossing was the last water for quite a while so fill up, there is a nasty little pond a little further but it will plug your water filter.  Once you get up near Cathedral rock there is a nice waterfall off the trail a bit to get water at but when it's 80+ degrees and your climbing you'll really wish you had filled the water bottle at the big crossing.  Deep lake is really nice, fishing was excellent and we had a side hike to Lake Vincent which was a little difficult.  Really steep to get up there, some of us turned back and enjoyed the waterfall but others pressed on and apparently it was easier to hike down this steep hill than we expected.   They say the lake was awesome but I didn't see it.  I can say the waterfall was refreshing and beautiful with amazing views of the valley.  The Air-force jets were pretty awesome too rolling over and screaming around us.  Bugs were terrible here but with the 3M bug cream it wasn't too bad

Day 5: Our plans were to hike to Waptus lake then to Pete and Cooper lake but we opted to hike down the Waptus river instead, still getting our 50miles but getting us into Salmon la Sac one day earlier.  The river quite possible was the best day of the whole trip, we spent hours in an awesome riverside camp just sitting in the river while the boys build dams and water shoots.  River was warm enough to just chill....  Awesome day

All in All this trip was a success, we all made our 50 miles and we all made it with no injuries, lost a lot of blood to the little flying vampires but that was about it.