Day 3- 6.1 miles and 2,000 ft elevation gain
As last night went on, our campsite became more and more filled w PCT hikers…ending up w about 15 more people around. They were definitely quiet, went to bed early, and were mostly gone before we even got out of our tents, but I’m still not a fan of sharing our spots. Bri and I emerged from our tents at 6:30, but kids not till 8 which made 11 hrs of sleep for them…nice!
We had a leisurely morning since we knew we only needed to go between 4.5-6 miles today. We started hiking at 10 w our destination to be Dollar Lake for lunch.
The kids powered through and we made the lake by 12:30 even w the 1500 ft of elevation and 4 miles. On the way, there was a fairly gnarly river crossing which was moving quickly and was thigh deep. Bri stood in the middle so the rest of us could use him to steady ourselves as we made our way across. So not only was he standing in icy cold snow run off water, but as I lifted my foot completely out of the river, because the current was so strong it was a necessity, my foot caught under his poles and jammed them into his lip giving him a fat lip…thanks for the help, Bri! Ugh…sorry! Dollar Lake was gorgeous and it was so nice to finally be at a quiet lake without the constant sound of the deafening rushing river! We all dried our socks and shoes since we had already made multiple river crossings without a way to not submerge our feet.
The next lake we came to was Arrowhead Lake which was less than a mile away and a possible place to stop and camp. We asked the kids for their opinion: do we stay here and then hike only 1.5 miles in the morn to Rae Lakes, or do we push thru to Rae Lakes and spend 2 nights there? It sure would b a treat to not have to pack up and unpack all our stuff for a day! So we decided to move on and I’m so glad we did! Rae Lakes is absolutely gorgeous and we picked the same camp site that Bri and I stayed in when we were here in 2011.
We knew it was a great spot and since no one else is here, it was available! 🙂 What we didn’t have the last time we were here was all the ice on the lake! There is still a ton of snow on the ground, in the mountains and on the lake…it sure does make for a beautiful setting! Since we got to camp at 4pm, we had lots of time to mess around: Bri tried lounging in the lake on his sleeping pad, we had contests to see who could throw a rock on a piece of floating ice and make it stick, as well as making an ice berg come toward us so we could cut off a piece…all good times!
Def my most favorite day so far since I like lakes the best. Glen pass day after tomorrow!!
If you’re reading this you must think that the kids are Debbie downers based off of these last few posts, but that is all about to change…in a second. So over the past two days Max and I have accumulated over 25 bugs together, while the parents have 0. What is up with that?! Anyways, today was actually a great day! The hike was a little steep at parts but both Max and I were able to continuously talk to mom and dad the whole way up to Dollar Lake. What mom forgot to mention about this hike was that we found 5 deer along the way, and saw 5 lakes as well. And who could forget the lovely river crossing we had today that went up to our waists and even got some of our packs wet. The free ice bath really helped our legs though to finish the rest of the hike.
Lastly, there is a mountain dubbed the name Painted Lady by our campsite, but there is some controversy over the name. It hardly looks like a lady, and more like a frog in my opinion, but you can decide for yourselves. So, when we get out I might make a suggestion to the rangers to change the name:) Maybe I’ll be famous one day for naming it the Painted Frog!
Amy and Brian's 