Lake Josephine from the Icicle Creek Trail in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, WA. We left the PCT to head downhill to the lakeshore.

Edan Z and William B, friends for 20 years, pose at the Trailhead. The author’s on foto right holding the camera. Sunday 4 October 2020.  We left parking lot on foot at 11:18. Bit of a late start for an overnighter, but not as late as those we encountered later in the dark. All’s well, tho, as such a later start isn’t ideal. Yet we were well-rested from a good night’s sleep. Edan drove, and we were determined to enjoy the journey anyway.

We were enthralled by the contrast of dark evergreens, autumn colors, & blue skies peppered with white clouds. Was a glorious October hike!

Enthralled with the glory of trees, of massive living plants sprouting in these northwestern mountains…but there were little ethical dilemmas over wearing masks on the trail as the COVID Pandemic still raged with many dead and sick. Fully vaccinated up to that point, we elected not to wear masks on the trail. Other hikers who did stepped aside even stepping off the trail a bit. Sometimes we did as well as a courtesy. We believed the bright mountain sunshine with a high UV exposure, fresh air, slight breezes, the cleansing effect concentrated vegetation supposedly had on the air, and the low human density of a hiking trail afforded us a high degree of safety. We did not get sick.

Enthralled by distant views of mountains as we gaze northeast into time and space…
Does consciousness transcend the relativist limitations of time, space, and gravity? Is the soul all levity? Sometimes the nature of our 3D, 4D reality as we perceive and experience life provides no answers. So we just go. And we go, Edan & I…

The wild berry bushes were golden.

Edan. Our friendship goes all the way back to meeting in a seminar when he scowled at me for eating energy bars for lunch. A food connoisseur and advocate of slow eating, he scoffed at my doggy gobble gulps and dismissed my choice of a meal as, “candy bars.” LOL! Love the guy, tho. And that was October of 2000!

Edan Zebooloon on the trail as we head south into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

This woman passed us training her dogs for … something. I couldn’t hear well enough to catch it all, but Edan seemed to know what she was doing and spoke with her a bit while I took a picture with my new iPhone, Lol

Gotta get on up the rest of this hill first! Long hike up from the parking lot TH far, far below.

We were both mesmerized by the rich contrast of colors.

At the Edge

Looking south into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness from a ridge branching off from Cowboy Mountain.

Love these mountains. I feel the wilderness of Cascadia in my soul. Spent much of my life in the outdoors and half here in the PNW, and, yes, the backcountry, however harsh, is home.

My dear friend LUVS to have his picture taken! Hey, so do I, LOL!

Atop the ridge above the back side of Stevens Pass Ski Resort before heading down, down, down on the PCT.

Looking up at the edge…where sky & earth merge.

Life grows wherever life can even if along a rocky ridge open to big sky.

Early to mid afternoon when the days grow shorter and the nights longer…

Baleful orb & lens flare. And I love it when the Sun feels nice and warm as we sweat and grunt up and down these mountain trails. Not too hot. Not any subzero bitters either. Just perfect as it is.

Autumn colors in a Cascadian bog.

Bog life meditation hole with sparkles in the mud!

The author tries not to fall into the bog in front of Edan…

We’re at Lake Susan James, & we’re both enamored of the natural October beauty.

Me squinting in the October sun as Edan snaps my “aura befora.”

Squinting at my buddy Edanzo!

Edan at Lake Susan James, Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

Edan is a serious man. Authentic. Deep. And trustable.

A little bit of mirth!

We can’t get enough of this beautiful place. Even contemplated camping here so we could further explore, and we still had a ways to go with such a short amount of time.

Farewell … and Blessings!

Bliss. Afternoon October sunshine bliss.

Autumn paradise.

Proud & Happy

Some prankster set this broken M&M fake rock at the bottom of the trail sign.

The Author, only 61 years along, feeling all frumpy dumpy with torn, saggy shorts, aging silver hair, crooked eyeglasses, squinty eyes, bobbly sweaty hearing aids, smelly old Patagucci shirt, and trying to smile while hiding post-wisdom surgery spread-apart toofies, cuz, dang, aging is a terrible disease, LOL

Oh crap, lookit this ol’ fool grimacing in the sunny sunshine! Well, he’s inwardly happy, LOL!

Now’s he’s really happy!

Gazing down towards Lake Josephine from the trail junction.

And up at the mountains beyond.

Little mountain pond near the trailhead junction with a path down to the water.

Lake Josephine

We ended up camping on a low ridge near this beach. And…what’s back in those far valleys? 

Edan in Autumn.

Hiking down around Lake Josephine.

Love the interplay of light and shadows with water, rocks, and trees.

Sparkling as if alive.

Our view of the lake from camp. We had arrived to the little beach by our campsite at 16:16. While the weather was perfect, it was still October. The sun set quickly. Sank down behind those mountains like a stone tossed into the lake.

Clouds move in.

We came off the PCT and down the Icicle Creek Trail as it angles downhill to the lakeshore near our campsite.

Looking out across Lake Josephine.

Mesmerized by rapidly changing skies.

A change in the weather’s on the way…

Autumn fungi. Does anyone out there recognize what species of mushrooms these are?

Amongst the scales deep in Shroomland…

Goofing with a Fungus.

Silly selfie from beneath the gills of a mushroom cap.

Stem of stalk with gills of cap.

Me in my old red hat. That hat has a lot of history. Bought it long ago at Blue Ridge Mountain Sports in Blacksburg, Virginia back in 1985. It’s a Marmot alpine-style fleece hat, and it’s served me thru many a cold day and chillier night. Even has a burn hole in the forehead from a campfire spark.

Ahhh, yes, my crazy old hat! This trip was probably the last time I used this hat out in the backcountry. Thirty-five years is a long time to wear a hat, LOL!

Edan’s kitchen. Yes, I did inform him his stove with a pot of boiling water needs to be, um, much more level, hmn. Hmnn, LOL! Enjoyed a yummilicious freeze-dried backpacking dinner-in-a-bag myself. The MRE was marketed as food for 2, but us hungry hikers each ate an entire double-meal. We were well-hydrated, too, which we paid for later, LOL. Had to get on my dear friend, tho, when he came over to chat and decided to dress his pus-draining staph infection in his torso nearly over my dinner. “Dude! Hey, what are doing? Go do that over there! I’m cooking and about to eat, please.” He looked at me funny and scowled. Wasn’t I a former Wilderness-EMT? An old farm boy used to all kinds of gore? Well, yeah, just not when I’m eating dinner!

Dusk turns into night after a yummy, hot dinner towards the end of Sunday the 4th of October 2020.

A few stars and trees in the dark.

Twilight selfie. Damn, I look like one of those sinister Sith Lords!

Ursa Major the Big Dipper lurks somewhere in the darkness of space here.

As I stand here gazing up in awe and wonder at the stars above, I wonder if we’ll solve the mysteries of UFOs/UAPS, of which I’ve encountered several, and of paranormal forest creatures such as fairies and Bigfoot, or what life is like upon other distant worlds, and what’s inside black holes, and why do certain stars vanish without a trace? I’ll be happy to see meteors shoot across the night sky, and a few do indeed flash by.

Fog rolled in soon after I took this foto about 20:15. Then around 3 in the morning we were awakened by a group of maybe 4 or 5 guys stumbling thru the woods and shining flashlights everywhere. They apologized for their intrusion. They had driven for many hours to the TH and started hiking around midnight or so and still had a long ways to go. They were scurrying about trying to find the Icicle Creek Trail where it leaves Lake Josephine to penetrate deeper into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. After debating on whether or not to spend the night at the lake, they located the overgrown trail plunging downhill thru the bushes and chose to push on. Funny, at first I felt grumpy at being awakened, then mad, then scared, and irritated, & then started laughing and giggling at the absurdity of it all, and felt curious. I had to put my hearing aids back in my ears to speak with them and listen to them. Eventually was glad to go back to sleep, and glad those all-night-hikes of my crazy youth were a thing of the past. Been there, done that, know I can do it again if necessary, & glad we didn’t have to. But I did get up 4 times during this chilly October night to pee, and was surprised how copious each time was. Was definitely a well-hydrated man! The  thick fog felt spooky Cthulhuy as it clogged up the forest canopy and hid the stars from view.

Awake inside my tent at 7:30 in the morning. My tent is a Nemo Hornet 2P liteweight backpacking tent from 2016. Nemo’s a fantastic little outdoor adventure company out of Nashua, New Hampshire.

Slept OK anyway. A little sore, sure, some wicked leg cramps at one point. Felt like a barracuda eating my leg! We were so very slooow yesterday! Felt good, tho. Felt good to be moving our bodies outdoors in the wilderness, to feel the chill, to feel the warm sun, the breeze, to smell the water and the forest. Aye, felt so good!

Inside the little tent felt strangely like a mini-cathedral, a little church, aye, a chapel! Spatial distortions of gravity-bent time?

No, it’s that dayum hat! The Red Hat of Madness blown all this way by the breath of Cthulhu from the frigid ruins of forgotten Ancient Antarctica. The Old Alien Gods lurk in the woods under the rocks to take over our faces! Yup, seen a little too much…

No worries! Time to get up anyway! Woo Hoo!

Crawled out of my tent and there she was, the Moon, high in the morning sky. Happy Monday!

Went down to the lakeshore to gather water for breakfast.

Love these early morning reflections. Well, early in the morning for a Monday in October in the mountains of Washington State!

Peace & quiet. There are a small number of other campers further back in the woods on the hillside above the lake, and all felt far from war and violence. Enjoyed the solitude and being alone with my thoughts and feelings.

The Moon’s going down fast.

There she is, fuzzy Luna. Is the technical name for the Moon Sol 3b?

Edan & I explore the surrounding area after breakfast. Here’s the main outlet creek flows down the mountainside from the lake.

Wow, the Sun’s still trying to rise up over the mountains.

The trail continues on into the shadows, but it’s time for us to turn back and go another way.

Back to the lake!

Nasikelt Peak, 5,863 feet or 1787 meters in elevation, looms over the backside of Lake Josephine. It’s a scramble for another day.

Edan & William about to leave camp. It’s Monday morning on the 5th of October 2020.

Edan trudging up the long, steep stretch of the Icicle Creek Trail to its junction with the PCT. After a series of false starts, we left camp at 10:58. Edan had problems with his water system, and I took a dump on a steep hillside in the sunshine. Woo HOO hooty HOO hoo, yo!

Fun little grunt uphill. Edan hadn’t done much backpacking in a long time, so we’re both feeling proud to be able to get back out on the trail and hike.

Farewell cruise uphill to the ridges above the lake.

Looking south from the trail junction plateau and deeper into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

Love these Alpine Lakes!

Edan up by a boggy tarn atop the trail junction plateau.

Edan, a man at home in many elements, deep in Autumn glory.

Taking fotos of the world below and beyond…@ 11:40 on Monday 5 October 2020.

Edan took this panorama of me and the surrounding wilderness atop the trail junction plateau. He has an eye for panoramas, and used his Android smartfone to make it so. Click directly on the image to enlarge it.

The hike back to Stevens Pass was gorgeous, too. While recognizable, the oft-dreaded return hike can be thought of as a different perspectives with a shift in view. Even the angle of sunlight is different from yesterday’s.

Trailside bogs on the way down to Lake Susan James.

Had fun imagining if those rocky outcrops were the ruins of some forgotten ancient city. We faced a long, dusty, hot uphill, and Edan’s groaning about how his bowels hurt grew worse as he felt more and more miserable going uphill. Gosh, hope he didn’t get giardiasis or food poisoning.

More rocks evocative of old ruins, and more turbulence from Edan’s belly. Felt a little sore myself.

We arrived back at the TH at Stevens Pass at 13:35, & it turns out my friend had to take a gigantic, crampy poop. Had to go ever since breakfast, but held it in. He’d refused to go in the woods. Wanted to drive down the road to find a restaurant with a nice, clean restroom. That’ll be another hour, and he was in agony. I pointed across the parking lot to the row of porta potties. “Edan, remember the story of the man trapped out on the roof of his house during a great flood?” I asked. “And he kept waiting for God to rescue him? So God sent people by with canoes, helicopters, other boats, and he turned them all down as he expected God directly? And the man drowned, and in the Afterlife he was incredulous but God gave him a piece of His holy mind by saying, ‘What are you talking about? Sent you a canoe, a helicopter, a boat!'” So, Edan, that porta potty’s your canoe. Go now, man.” And so he went. Yeah, I’ve been like that before when I first started hiking and camping. Got over it quickly, tho! The agony isn’t worth it.

Later gifted Edan this book…

After all that bidnis with canoes and porta potties, we drove on down the mountain into the Skykomish Valley. Stopped in one of those riverside towns and went into a restaurant where no one wore masks even back in the kitchen. We were so hungry by then we didn’t care. I enjoyed a hot cheeseburger fresh off the grill with a cold beer. Yum! Great way to end the hike! Edan’s car, btw, he’s gotta drive! Woo HOO! Away we go…

Wildlife! The irony is we didn’t see any wildlife on the trail, even the bugs were few in number, but as soon as we pulled into Edan’s driveway to park, there sat a wild bunny rabbit, LOL!

We just couldn’t enough of beautiful Lake Josephine and the Cascade Mountains in this stunning early October weather. So glad we made this overnighter happen! What a great trip with one of my closest friends! Only two days, yes, and many great memories. Monday 5 October 2020.