I've been extremely stressed out and I loathe fireworks, so Daisy and I headed for the Teanaway early Tuesday morning and just came home today, Friday, because I had to work. What an amazing, restful week it has been and I am truly grateful!

The trail to and around Lake Ann is basically completely snow free. The only exception is if you want to curcumnavigate the lake itself, then there is some snow on the south side, but it is easily walkable in trail runners. There's one small patch to get to the lake but no worries at all. 

Bugs the first couple days were only mildly annoying, though the bees and flies seemed to keep Daisy very occupied the entire time we were there. lol. On our last evening and this morning they were much worse and included mosquitoes and tiny grasshoppers that I have never seen before. I didn't feel like I was getting a lot of mosquito bites but now that I am home and showered realized I do have quite a few. The bees and the flies weren't biting or stinging, they were just completely obnoxious. 

On our second day we scrambled up Fortune Peak from our campsite at Lake Ann, not via the regular trail from Fortune Pass, but from my own route finding trail I made straight up from the east end of the lake. There were some definite class IV moves and some bleeding hands and it was super fun! Daisy is a rock star! Once we summited and went to go get on the actual trail I had to make some adjustments to make it work for her, but eventually we figured it out and it was really fun for us and a good confidence builder for her. I love seeing how much she has improved in the two years I have known and loved her. When we finally got back to camp a couple hours later, she took a nap in the dirt. 😆

Oh, FYI there's a decent amount of snow around Fortune Peak still but I was fine in my trail runners. Just depends on your comfort level I guess. 

The next day we wandered down the creek to look at the waterfalls and flowers meandering down there. It's so pretty! 

Our last night at 2:30 in the morning there were 2 very loud, very low flying aircraft that flew directly over and woke us up. It was so loud that I actually just ended up getting up and going out to take some night photos. I still don't know what the aircraft were about, I've never heard anything quite that loud at Lake Ann, but my night photos picked up some of the northern lights, so I was not disappointed. 

There were a few people in and out and I guess we shared the lake with one other tent each night, but on opposite sides of the lake so we barely noticed each other. We saw goats, picas, marmot, and the usual chipmunks and squirrel. There are two goats hanging out multiple times daily at the lake so please, if you hike with a dog, be mindful and don't let your dog scare them or chase them. I haven't seen them there so frequently in a long time. It was so beautiful. 

Daisy ate lots of good food. I ate very little but slept a lot and just tried to shut off all the noise. We enjoyed time together and in Mother Nature. I wish I was still there. 

Yay, Lake Ann!! Or rather, a thawing Lake Ann. The Teanaway is quickly coming back to life and I don't think I have ever been on this trail when there is so much water! The waterfalls were incredible! I've been up there in snow before, but it must have been at the start of winter, when it was dry below and just snowing up high. It was just crazy beautiful. Not as many wildflowers as Navaho Peak yet, but give it a week. 

Daisy and I started Wednesday morning, planning on spending one or two nights at Lake Ann. Not having seen a single trip report, I had no idea what to expect. There is still a LOT of snow up high on that side of the Teanaway. I'll break it down a bit.

The first part of the Esmeralda Basin trail is totally doable for anyone with any skill level. There are some snow patches after about 1.8 miles, until you get out of the trees, none of which posed any issue and I don't see how a person could possibly lose the trail. 

I turned off where the trail splits to Lake Ann. Shortly thereafter it becomes basically solid, deep snow and you will lose the trail if you don't know where you're going or have route finding skills. The snow was perfect for walking just in my boots, so I didn't put spikes on, and I've been up there so many times I didn't have a problem staying on or very close to the actual trail. I doubt my tracks will still be there in that forested portion with all of the melting coming up the next few days.

Once you gain the ridge that overlooks Lake Ann, solid snow, probably 2ft in places. I went to look over the edge and saw that the lake is still about 70% frozen/snowed over. It was disappointing, but not super surprising. Aside from that, no one had been down to the lake at all this year and I would have to break trail. 

Wednesday morning around 10am, wearing my 40lb pack, I headed down to break the trail and set up camp. It was really sketchy. The snow was soft and more powdery, and my ice axe wasn't grabbing onto it very well. I went down probably 20ft and then postholed up to my waist, so decided to come back up and set up camp on top of the ridge. I just wasn't comfortable breaking trail down that steep terrain with all that weight on me when I didn't feel like my axe would hold.

So i climbed out of the hole my leg was stuck in, not an easy task, lol, and we headed back up and set up camp up high. We had some lunch and water and rested awhile. 

A couple hours later I decided we would try going down again with just my little day pack and my ice axe. It was perfect. The sun had melted the snow just enough to make it heavy to hold my axe in case I needed to self arrest. I broke trail all the way to the bottom with no problem. I was so happy and Daisy got to swim like the cuckoo dog she is! 

We wandered around the lake awhile, played fetch, listened to the marmots, Daisy went swimming, then we headed back up our perfect little trail back to camp to have some dinner because Daisy is ALWAYS hungry. 

The sunset was decent, I watched an episode of NCIS on Netflix since I had cell service up there (lame, I know), took my sleep meds and was out in 5 minutes. It was really cold overnight. Daisy doesn't like her sleeping pad so she kept pushing me off mine and I would wake up just laying on snow. Why have a 2 person tent if the 70 lb dog is just going to sleep ON me? It's a good thing she's cute.

This morning we woke up at 5. I made coffee and watched the sunrise, then we went back to sleep until 8. We had to pack up and head out because I didn't bring enough food for myself and apparently that Dominos pinpoint delivery thing is a bit of a misnomer. Disappointing. 

I took a lot of pics. I can only post 4 here but the others will be on my Instagram tonight or tomorrow. @pipermarmalade 😘

Found a pair of eye glasses lying on top the snow off the Esmeralda Basin trail. It was just a little way after the turn up the trail to Lake Ann. They were lying on the snow next to a set of footprints and must have been recent. Maybe from Sat or Friday. If they are yours let me know. I brought them home and would like to get them back to the owner. 

I got the trail around 10am on sat. The lot was partially full. I saw maybe 15 people on trail. many had dogs, which was a bit surprising as I usually choose national parks specifically because people can't bring their pets...oh well. This trail is beautifully maintained all the way to glacier. A bit muddy as we hit rainy season, but nothing to worry about. I couldn't find a direct trail to the glacier shortly after the park boundary, but got plenty close enough after a bit of shale shale maneuvering.

Arrived at the parking lot on this warm Wednesday at 11am to a full lot and a handful of cars parked on the side of the road. Most people appeared to going toward Lake Ingalls since we only saw 2 other groups of people, one coming down and one going toward Esmeralda Basin/Lake Ann behind us. 

The larches at Lake Ann were turning a bit brown, but it's still a beautiful lake to walk around. We could see Mt Rainier and Glacier Peak at the top of the ridge. Picas were out and meeping. 

There were plenty of water source along the way. Trail was easy to follow.