A dayhike into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness to a mythic lake with a friend doesn’t quite go…& we had a blast anyway, like, literally, as in Ka-POW, LOL!
Monday 1 October 2019
*This is an unfinished work in progress. Almost done, tho! Enjoy!*
Finding Lake Kulla Kulla had a grip on me. Still does. Ever since I first saw it from the top of surrounding ridges and peaks. Especially from the top of Mt. Defiance on a day hike one Monday in May 2015. An attempt earlier this year in May with my middle daughter Kate stopped at Mason Lake. A later than anticipated start combined with choosing to return for a family gathering to say farewell to my oldest was the reason then. A couple of other planned trips including camping out overnight ended up being canceled for odd reasons.
Kulla Kulla is an anomaly, remains a mystery, and as such I wanted to at least find a way to get down to its shoreline. There weren’t any trails on any maps except a faint, dotted line on an old map I found online for an overgrown fishing trail. Best reports indicate one turning off on a rough trail just before reaching Sir Richard’s Pond to follow a ridge sloping down to the lakeshore. The terrain is rugged, steep, and without any good beaches. Trip reports were scarce. A few were rambling, toppling over snowy boulders and logs snowshoe romps. One was a hilarious tale of woe and misery by a guy who claimed to have barely made it out alive. A Bigfoot family of hairy Sasquatch people was imagined to abide down in these remote sections of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Yet it was a glorious lake with a stunning view. So I asked my friend Michelle RM, a coworker within the same outdoor adventure company, if she would join me in finding a way down to the lake from the main trail. Yes, of course, she replied. She was game! Woo Hoo! So off we went.