Ashland Lakes — Thursday, May. 28, 1998

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

This was another shake-down hike and campout for our potential 50-milers. We stopped at Verlot Ranger station to buy a trail-head permit, but it turns out that the trail is on DNR land, so no permit is required. We had full packs on and were planning on staying at the Upper Ashland Lake Camp. The trail has *A LOT* of mud- some deep enough to go over the top of boots. We happily trudged along using the Leave No Trace Method- right through the middle! Those without gaiters were hurtin'. The temperature was in the low 40's. The trail has a lot of boardwalk covered with metal mesh. The mesh can be slippery too, so don't be fooled. The flora is extremely beautiful. Very scenic. We made it to the upper lake in about 1-1/2 hours. Honey buckets have been delivered by helicopter, but plan on bringing your own TP. We set up camp, ate lunch, put on daypacks, and headed for Twin Falls. This section of trail is even muddier despite the obvious signs of maintenance crew efforts. Quite the obstacle course. Very wet and very slippery with exposed roots the full length of the trail. Trekking poles proved quite useful. We were glad we did not attempt this little side- hike with full packs. Our little side-hike turned into a 3 or 3-1/2 hour trip. We were back just in time to make dinner. The falls was beautiful! At the falls we purified water, and no matter what we had orangy tinged water. It didn't taste bad however. Lots of bugs! Be prepared with your 10 essentials and proper equipment. We saw lots of dayhikers on Sunday walking in without any equipment or water. We did about 10 miles in all. We had planned on eating our Sunday lunch at the parking lot before heading home. Too many bugs. We loaded up and ate enroute.