Mosquitoes Suck

In an exciting attempt to make another backpacking trip this month, David and I were deeply discouraged when we had to cut our trip a day short while staying out at Deep Lake in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Why do you ask? Bugs. Those evil, blood-sucking pests known most commonly as mosquitoes.

After hearing from a friend how amazing this place called "Deep Lake" was, we decided to make that our next backpacking destination. David had borrowed "100 Hikes: Alpine Lakes Wilderness" from a friend at work, which helped us map out our hike to Deep Lake. It sounded great. About 14 miles round trip to a beautiful alpine lake, with Cathedral Rock looming over us the whole time.

We started out driving the 2 1/2 hours to Salmon La Sac, including a small river ford. It's a good thing I have a truck ;) We arrived at the Cathedral Trail No. 1345 around noon and began our journey. We were blessed with views of beautiful meadows and Cathedral Rock gleaming in the distance.

David getting started on the trail.

The trail was nice. It was well maintained, climbing a little over 2,000 feet but never too steep.

There were also several signs pointing us in the right direction so that we couldn't get lost. At about 2.5 miles, we reached Squaw Lake. This area seemed nice, with some campsites along the trail. This was also the point at which we started to get really annoyed with the mosquitoes. It was hard for me to stand still long enough to take this photograph...honestly.

David taking pictures of Squaw Lake.

We moved on, climbing further until we reached some meadows near Cathedral Pass.

This area was quite marshy and muddy, but there were some gorgeous views of the Wenatchee Mountains if we hiked off the trail a bit. There were also some beautiful little ponds bearing reflections of the mighty Cathedral Rock.

Little Pond #1

Wenatchee Mountains.

As we hiked a little further, we reached a sign designating the Pacific Crest Trail. It is pretty incredible to think that one can take a small dirt trail all the way from one pass to the other. What a trip that must be. The trail actually goes all the way from California to Canada.

We finally reached the top of the pass, and began a long series of switchbacks down to Deep Lake. It was quite frustrating to be able to see Deep Lake below, but feel like we were never getting closer. The trail was spread wide across the slope with switchbacks far between passings. We were hot, tired, and bug-ridden. At the second switchback, we came upon the trail split to Peggy's Pond. More on that later...

David navigating the trail.

After about 18 switchbacks (yes, we counted) we reached a large meadow with a skinny path leading to Deep Lake. It seemed beautiful, but at this point we were swarmed by bugs. We trudged through the boggy grassland, crossed a river, and quickly chose an area to set up camp. David went dashing into the water in an attempt to escape the bugs, if only for a few moments. According to him "it was the kind of temperature that's so cold it takes your breath away". I quickly threw that idea out the window and just kept walking in circles with the convoy following me.

Lightening fast, we sprayed down with Jungle Juice (the 17% DEET kind) and hastily set up our tent. We didn't care if it was perfect, we just wanted to jump inside to avoid getting eaten alive. It was pretty miserable. At any point in time we could count at least ten mosquitoes resting on door opening of our tent. If we exited the tent, at least three of the little devils would end up inside. We were both starving and managed to be outside long enough to boil some water on the stove to make some freeze-dried spaghetti (which we ate inside the comfort of our tent of course). We spent the rest of the evening sipping on rum and trying to entertain ourselves. When it was finally pitch black outside, we ventured out into the night, bug spray in hand. The bugs seemed to have subsided a bit, yet a few were still hanging around. I set my camera up for some long awaited star trails shots, which turned out better than I imagined. I've never tried it before so I was very pleased with the results!

Out of the whole trip, this was definitely my favorite part. We were staring up at a magical sky filled with hundreds of thousands of stars. It was even possible to see the Milky Way. It was one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen.

The next morning, we packed up our stuff as quickly as possible. We had planned to make a break for it after eating breakfast and making coffee, but we decided on Clif Bars only in order to get out faster. We wanted to check out Peggy's Pond and see if the bugs were less barbaric at a higher altitude. Now, before I begin, I must say that the trail to Peggy's Pond was described as "primitive and nervous-making" in 100 Hikes. I blew off that comment when I originally read the trail description, but I can confirm that it's 100% correct. It is much like a billy goat trail. At some points, you have to brace yourself against the side of a rock, all the while trying not to look down at the endless piles of scree pitched at a near 90 degree angle below you. I don't even want to think about what would happen if one were to fall in that area. It would be a first class emergency situation. Moments after safely passing the sketchy part, I stepped down off of a log and part of a broken stump stabbed me in the front part of my lower leg, missing my shin by about half and inch. Ouch! (Side note: On Sunday at work, I had nearly an entire pot of fresh coffee spilled onto my left hand, which had begun to form large bulbous blisters at this point in time. A large gash in my leg was the last thing I needed. I was NOT feeling good.) David performed a bit of basic first aid, ran to get some water from the nearest stream, and off we went. We were surprisingly close to Peggy's Pond, and we arrived at a beautiful mountain haven tucked beneath Cathedral Rock. A few steps away led us to views of Mt. Daniel and Deep Lake far below. It was quite a stunning place.

We set up the tent, feeling pretty safe from the bugs. They were still there, but not in such large quantities...until about ten minutes later. Again, we had just enough time to boil some water to make oatmeal, and they realized our existence. It was so miserable. After killing all of the bugs that had ventured into the tent behind us, we decided that this was not our trip and packed up camp to go home. It was not worth it to stay a second night. What a disappointment :( We love camping, so for us to cut a trip short means that it was truly terrible. Sore, injured, and tired, we ambled back to the truck. Here's one last glimpse of Mt. Stuart on our way out.

Beautiful, but buggy. :( Despite the fact that this trip was a bust, I can't wait to go again. Next week I will be heading down to Mt. Hood for High Cascade Photo Workshop. Snowboarding in summer? I think I can handle that.

For more on this story, visit David's review on the Washington Trails Association site. He has quite a way with words :)