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July
5, 2001 5:00am - July 8, 2:30pm roundtrip to trailhead Otter Lake
Loop is worth a weekend visit. We opted for a 4 day backcountry
adventure.
Day
1:
West Fork Foss Lakes trailhead to Otter Lake el. 3925 feet- Hike
rated: 4 hours, strenuous 5.5 miles, elevation +3300 My brother
and I left the Foss Lakes trailhead at 5AM and steamed up the trail
to Trout Lake. We soon reached the Malachite and Copper outlet stream,
you will know you are there because it is the first sharp corner
heading up. From here drop down staying on the north side of the
outlet stream, about 80-100 feet before getting to the West Fork
of the Foss River there are two logs you can shimmy across- make
sure you find these logs because the trail picks up here on the
other side. The fisherperson's trial is on the west side of the
river (always keep the river on your left side). The trail is in
better shape then when I went a few years ago but still this is
prime Washington bushwhacking. Continuing on over hidden
logs, up/down some root climbs you can faintly see the outlet waterfall
from Delta Lake there is a thick brushy patch here, if you loose
the trail just struggle your way towards the waterfall and pick
the trail up there. Follow the 'trail' up to the log jam on Delta
Lake and cross over to the east side of the lake to the campsite.
We took a short break, so wanting to cure my fishing bug- I pulled
out my fishing pole and caught 1 little cutthroat trout, that was
enough I had no idea how good the fishing would soon be!
Once at Delta Lake the 'trail' heads up from this campsite, following
the contours of the lake. At the end of Delta lake (take second
and admire all the waterfalls coming into it from Big Heart, Angeline
and Otter Lakes) cross the maze of creeks, look for a log that crosses
one of them that heads east, the trail picks up here. Once on the
the 'trail' the Otter Lake outlet will be on your right, continue
up to the waterfall. With the waterfall and a huge rock face on
your right, scramble up the boulder field into the chute and the
trail will pick along the creek again. Your almost 'home free' now.
Follow the 'trail' along side of a marshy swamp, the trail meanders
through the forest heading back towards the outlet stream. Soon
you will see the great Otter Lake. There are numerous campsites,
some better then others (there is one with a rock oven near the
lake shore).
We set up our base camp at about 9AM and pumped up our rafts and
heading out fishing. Life does not get much better then fishing
from a raft on a sunny summer day. We fished the day away exploring
the lake shore for the coming days adventures.
Day
2:
Otter Lake to Bonnie Lake el. 5100 feet and Tank Lakes el. 5900
feet- Hike rated: 10 hours, strenuous 6.5 miles, elevation +2600.
We ate some breakfast and jumped into our rafts and rowed down to
the southeastern end of Otter Lake, there we pulled our boats up
on shore and started bushwhacking up the outlet stream from Bonnie
Lake and others. This was a brutal portion of the trip, I am glad
we only had daypacks. Once we passed the first tributary stream
we started cutting up the rocky overgrown slope. We fought our way
through alders, devils club and many more until we crested the ridge
near Bonnie Lake. What an awesome alpine lake- set in a rocky basin
with a huge rock face on the back and southern sides. We fished
and caught numerous 6 to 14 inch + rainbow/cutthroat/brook trout,
we released them all. We went for a alpine lake swim--brrrr. While
exploring all the way around the lake we found a nice campsite and
fire ring near the outlet. We ate a bit of lunch and set our sights
on making it over the next ridge into the Necklace Valley. We scrambled
up the rocky creek bed to the top. The scenery up on the top was
awe inspiring, a true alpine region--virtually no trees, lots of
rock slabs and intermittent small waterholes. We wondered around
a bit up here and noticed the only other person we saw on this 4
day trip was camped near one of the snow covered upper lakes. We
figured we would try a different route down to Bonnie Lake so we
meandered back towards the cliff looking back down on Bonnie Lake.
We had to slide down a few cliffs and hold on for dear life in a
few places. The sun was soon to go behind the ridge so we headed
back down to Otter Lake-which was not much easier than coming up
due to all the cliffs. At Otter Lake we fished our way back to the
base camp and got back at about 9:30PM.
Day
3:
Otter Lake to Azurite Lake el. 4520 feet, Azure Lake el. 5000, Chetwoot
el. 4905 and Angeline Lake el. 4609- Hike rated: 11 hours, strenuous
12.5 miles, elevation +4600. We had some pancakes and jumped into
our rafts and rowed down to the southwestern end of Otter Lake,
there we deflated our rafts and stuck them into our daypacks. It
is about a 1/2 hour scramble up to Azurite Lake, not too bad compared
to the day before. Once at the lake my brother started pumping up
his raft, so I went out for a snorkeling adventure-trying to scout
out some fish. The lake was a bit cold out in the deep water! I
then got my raft pumped up, and headed out fishing. The fishing
is not as good as Otter or Bonnie but it was still good. We fished
for a few hours then rowed to the back side of the lake. We pulled
our boats on shore and headed up the back rock basin. Once on top
we meandered on to Azure Lake, we were hot so we striped down to
our swimming trunks and went for a 'quick' dip-this lake was the
coldest I had been in for awhile, it still had snow on part of it,
we made about 4 dives a piece off the cliff. We dried off and jumped
back into the still snow covered landscape heading up past the small
pothole lakes towards Little Chetwoot and Chetwoot Lakes. Chetwoot
was still snow covered so we did not venture down to it's lakeshore.
We then headed over to take a look at the enormous Angeline Lake.
We headed on back to Azurite Lake and did some snorkeling and fishing.
Then jumped into our boats and rowed to the other side and scrambled
on down to Otter Lake. We fished until after dark- the fish were
biting like crazy-12 inch+ every cast!
Day
4:
Otter Lake to West Fork Foss Lakes trailhead el. 1600 feet Hike
rated: 4 hours, strenuous 5.5 miles, elevation +3300. We packed
up camp did some fishing and headed back towards the trailhead.
Once at Delta Lake we had worked up a good sweat, so we went swimming,
I unpacked the mask and snorkel and went out exploring the lake
bottom. I saw numerous good sized fish. If you never had tried snorkeling
in alpine lakes-my suggestion is: try it, you will love it! One
funny thing to note: at Trout Lake we passed a couple drinking their
wine and enjoying the scenery and they said "You guys look pretty
hardcore", I had to chuckle.
The
bugs were fierce--take some bug spray.
Fishing--
awesome fishing for cutthroat, brook and rainbow trout some up to
14+ inches. Take a raft, these lakes are big and it beats bushwhacking
along the shores to the next lake. We had night fishing tournaments
off the log jam each night - it was a hoot the fishing was unreal!
No
reservations needed, just fill out a backcountry permit at the trailhead
and display your forest pass in your vehicle.
Do it again? You bet! This area with its scenery and lakes ranks
right up there with the Wind River Range in Wyoming. Wear a pair
of long pants and a long sleeved shirt, otherwise the brush will
eat you up.
If you want to see some other hikes and pictures around the Pacific
Northwest take a look at my website at: alpinejo.tripod.com.
Contributed
by Brian Shaw
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