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!*
Gazing across Washington State’s incredible Alpine Lakes Wilderness from the summit of Mt. Defiance (5,584 ft or 1,702 m). Foto from an earlier hike & climb. The largest lake below is Lake Kulla Kulla at about 3760 ft in elevation. Further over to your right is the next largest, Mason Lake at about 4,183 feet. As you can see, one doesn’t scramble 1,053 ft straight down. Ya gotta go up & over & down & around & then down. I took this foto on Monday 22 June 2015.
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.
Zooming in on Kulla Kulla from Mt. Defiance on the same trip in June 2015. Steep, rocky, brushy, & woody!
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.