Last September J and I decided to go on a backpacking adventure. We spent some time trying to pick a good hike and ended up choosing Waptus Lake, in the Snoqualmie region. I was very hesitant because it was a 9 mile hike, and that seemed like a very long way to carry all of our gear.
But it was listed as only 600 feet of elevation gain, which seemed pretty flat. So we thought this would be a good starter backpacking trip – challenging because of the length, but if it was mostly flat, it wouldn’t be that bad.
But first I had to get all the gear! Don’t worry, I was able to get everything to match! 🙂 Luckily it is a really great Osprey pack that is very functional, in addition to being a great color!
Ready to go!
We had a great weekend for backpacking – sunny and beautiful! We ended up getting a pretty late start in the day (2pm), so we knew we’d be pushing it to make it to the lake before sunset.
Turns out that 600 feet of elevation gain was a NET amount. It didn’t mention all the ups and downs! The first few miles were brutal and really had me questioning if I could make it.
Luckily the trail got a little easier after the first few miles, so we were able to make up some time. We finally reached the lake just as the sun was setting and were rewarded with this beautiful view.
We quickly set up our tent and ended up cooking dinner with flashlights – freeze dried pasta from REI has never tasted so good! I pretty much collapsed as soon as we were done eating. I had a minor (J would probably say major) freak out at 1:30 am when we started hearing coyotes howling around us. It was so hard to tell how close they were, and we were the only ones out there! Luckily we survived and woke up to this amazing view!
We traded some weight around (i.e. J took half the stuff in my backpack) and I felt a lot better hiking back – until that last 2.5 miles, it was such a killer!
At least there were some good views!
We loved this big Mario-mushroom 🙂
All-in-all, it was quite an adventure. I didn’t feel totally prepared for carrying that much weight and for that far, so I’m working on building up to heavier packs when we are hiking this year. We are hoping to attempt another backpacking trip in early July, so hopefully I’ll be ready by then!
Hike Stats:
Distance: 18 miles roundtrip
Elevation gain: 600 feet (Net!)
Location: Snoqualmie
Difficulty: Difficult!!
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