This trip turned out to be a bit of an adventure. I'd originally planned to spend a day hiking the boundary
trail at Mt. St. Helens mid-week, but decided I'd rather save that for another time and plan a two night
trip somewhere different. After much indecision, I finally settled on Spectacle lake well after noon on
Wednesday. After packing up, a quick trip to REI for the required map wasn't as simple as planned, as
REI didn't have the map I needed (I like and use the Green Trails maps). I ended up using the map
program/machine and printer to purchase a custom map, which was very difficult to read and ended up
causing me problems later on.
After a drive of over an hour, I arrived at the trail head and got on the trail at 6:00 PM, retracing my
steps for about 100 yards when I forgot to hang my Northwest Forest Pass on my rear view mirror.
With a 6:00 start on an 11 mile hike up the west side of the mountains, I knew I'd need to make
excellent time to arrive at Spectacle Lake by dark. But there was water and plenty of spots to camp
along the way, and I had my 8-LED mini-flashlight to light the way if needed.
By 7:45 I'd arrived at Pete Lake, which distance-wise was about half way to Spectacle Lake,
though the remaining trail to Spectacle Lake gained quite a bit more altitude than the one I'd just
traveled. My first bit of fun involved crossing a wide flowing stream in my bare feet (and almost falling
half-way across!). Crossing at this "Primitive Crossing" saved a mile of additional hiking via a pair of
bridges upstream.
By 9:20 I'd begun to hit the switchbacks climbing up to Spectacle Lake - but it was also getting pretty
dark on the trail down on the forest floor. By 10:00 I still hadn't made the lake, and it was so dark
I decided it was just plain dangerous to try to continue hiking without a light, so I got out my LED
flashlight. What a difference! It worked great!
With my flashlight, I kept pushing up the switchbacks, going as fast as I could with the hope I'd soon
arrive and be able to set up camp, cook some dinner, and relax. It sure seemed like I was going a lot
higher than where I thought the lake should be, but I just kept pushing on. Then at 11:00 at the edge of
one of the switchbacks I noticed something below me shimmering in the moonlight - a lake! In my haste to
get to the lake as quickly as I could, I missed the cutoff trail! The good news was it was only 20 minutes
hike back to the cutoff, and in about a half an hour I had found a campsite and was setting up my tent
and stove. What a night!
Most of the rest of the trip was closer to "normal." On Thursday I hiked up to Spectacle Peak, then
back down and relocated my camp out to the tip of the peninsula, where I relaxed, went for a swim, cooked
dinner, watched the sunset and called it a night. Then at 4:30 AM I was awakened by rain on my face!
The weather forecast had been good so I hadn't bothered to put on my tent's rain fly - bad idea! I had
to jump up and get the rain fly on in the dark before all my gear and sleeping bag got soaked.
Fortunately I'd put the rain fly on a couple of times before and was able to get it in place and attached
in about a minute, then I jumped back inside and tried to go back to sleep. Unfortunately it was starting to
get light and I wasn't too successful. After the initial downpour, the rain had stopped, and I decided
it might be prudent to take advantage of the break and pack up. Not a moment too soon - just as I was
finishing my packing and pulling on my rain gear, a big dark cloud came up over the mountain and let loose!
My timing was perfect!
The hike out was wet, but otherwise uneventful. I opted for the footbridge steam crossing this time, which
was quite pretty, but in hindsight I'd have preferred a mile less of hiking. By the time I finally made it
back to my car, I was completely soaked under my rain gear, but I had clean clothes in the car, and within
15 minutes I was dry and toasty. On the way out of the woods I stopped for lunch in Roslyn WA which looked
strangely familiar to me. Only after I'd finished eating at the Roslyn Cafe did I find out the TV series
Northern Exposure had been filmed there (OK - some of it anyway)! This trip was a real adventure and a
lot of fun, and made me realize a night hike is doable and tolerable and can even be fun! Believe it or
not, I'm thinking of planning another one of these adventures in the very near future :-)
