“Let’s go on a hike,” he said. “It will probably be fun,” he said. Well you don’t have to ask me twice.
The hubs wanted to get out on at least one overnight this season, so we found a free weekend and I got to planning. He’s been working a lot, so weekends were our only shot. After going through a few books and reading and re-reading trip reports, I finally landed on doing a one-nighter out to Chain and Doelle Lakes off Hwy 2, right off of Stevens Pass. I had concerns though.
You see, the snow stayed exceptionally late this year, so many trails are still thawing out. It was so hard to tell if this one was “open” so to speak because the last trip report on WTA, 10 days prior, was still reporting snow. BUT, we just had a massive heat wave (90+ degrees in Seattle for 6 days straight…..insane for us…..normal for the rest of the country) so I decided chances were good.
Stats on this hike: About 10 miles in to the Chain Lakes, and another 1.5 if you go further up to Doelle Lakes. Last 2 miles up to Chain Lakes had about 2,000 ft of elevation gain, so one pretty steep section. Seemed like a good distance and a good challenge, especially given our need to train for the Wonderland Trail next month.
However, given the recent melt, I also knew the likelihood of bugs was high. Have you ever been bit by a giant horse fly? As you might expect, it’s really not fun. Not sure which I hate more, biting flies or pesky mosquitoes. One hurts at first but leaves no itchy welt, and the other is painless except for the days of irritation afterward. Can we just annihilate them both? I see no use for them. But like the snow, I was hoping for the best. I secretly packed bug spray with a hefty amount of Deet.
So we loaded up our little Audi and headed out at the crack of 7:40, powered only by desire to use the lower bridge before 8am when it closes to non-essential traffic, and then you are forced to go ALL THE WAY AROUND to hook back up with the freeway. If you know West Seattle, then you know what I’m talking about. Our high bridge should be back in service soon, but feel sorry for us. It’s been two years now with this shitty work around. Patience, Danielle. Ok, I digress.
We cruise easily out on Highway 2 over to Stevens Pass and find convenient parking right at the entrance to the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). This was another reason for choosing this trail. I’ve had too many near heart attacks taking my car on roads that were probably, no definitely, not made for sedans, and most certainly not a little Audi A4. I’m learning to read road information more carefully…..and simultaneously dreaming of Subarus.
Trail started out easy. I love the PCT. The trail is fairly well maintained and always full of interesting people. Pretty sure we passed a couple of thru hikers bee-lining their way into Stevens Pass for a town day. They were dirty as all get out and looked like they were on a mission. Should have brought trail treats to pass out but honestly I was overwhelmed enough just making sure the family was adequately packed. Next time.
It was also a HOT day. The heat wave wasn’t yet over. The sun was intense and the trail was dusty. I noted several people in these long sleeved, hooded sun shirts. While we had sunscreen liberally applied, I was coveting said shirts. Mental note: check REI for long sleeved, hooded sun shirts.
Despite the heat, it was a gorgeous day. The day was long but we hiked all 10 miles in without too much trouble. As expected the last 2 miles were a beast, but we persevered.
Soren was hurting though, and it was at about this stretch that I realized poor Soren had:
1. Just done a full week of soccer camp in blazing, 90 degree heat (6 hours a day!), and,
2. This was his first hike of the season
Wait, what? It literally just dawned on me at that very moment that I had been taking Theron out on the trails since May but letting Soren have a pass because of all the other activities he had going on. See last several blog posts as evidence. No Soren. So here we are, on a 10 mile hike, and poor Soren’s legs are about to call it a day.
Of course we all made it, Soren’s legs and all, and thankfully the lakes did not disappoint. We had read that the second Chain Lake was where it’s at, so we busted over and indeed….BEAUTIFUL. Not knowing who might show up after us, we immediately got to work scouting out the best site.
Let me just say this…..it was a Saturday evening in the middle of summer….and there was NO ONE there. Sure, it’s 10 miles in, but given the crowds we saw over Covid times at places far less pretty, this was weird. Ok, so one couple did show up later in the evening, but we never saw them the entire time. We essentially had the lake to ourselves.
Or maybe it was that they knew what we didn’t know. The bugs. OH THE BUGS. I know I mentioned we hiked in with little difficulty, but I forgot to mention that we were carefully followed by aggressive biting flies pretty much the entire time. It was as if they became part of our crew at some point. Most of them landed and hung out with minimal annoyance, but then there were those that latched on, and with what felt like tiny metal teeth, took a minuscule chunk of flesh out of your body. We sprayed Deet. They did not give a shit about Deet.
Once we got to camp the flies dissipated ….. ahhhhh …… but then the mosquitoes moved in. There was no winning. At least these guys were actually repulsed by Deet and we were able to keep them at bay, mostly. Jason was their favorite target, and given that he and Soren were the two most fatigued at this point due to lack of hiking this season and elevation (I think we were just above 6,000 ft), they immediately set up camp, crawled into the tents, and took a siesta.
Theron and I decided to seize the day and took a quick cold plunge, then trodded around the lake to explore. We found the privy right up from our site (score!) and even walked part of the trail up to the Doelle Lakes. Those lakes were for another day though. The rest of our party was in no mood for an additional day hike.
Rest of the evening was the backpacking usual: Set up cookware, make dinner, prepare after dinner hot chocolates, clean up camp, brush teeth, hang food, etc, all white batting at mosquitoes and spraying more Deet than is probably healthy or advised.
Because it was so warm without a cloud in sight, we were able to sleep sans rain tarps, which is always nice for star gazing. Our new mosquito friends congregated on the tent netting, watching us sleep.
Speaking of tents, let me give a little shout out to some of our gear. This was the second time trying out our new ultralight tents, the Wilderness Technology Airlite UL 2 person. Coming in at just over 2 pounds, this little tent cuts down on pack weight and sets up in seconds. Couldn’t be easier. Downside is that while it says it’s a 2-person, it literally doesn’t fit Jason. We had to bring the back-up Kelty 3-man tent for us, weighing in at almost 5 pounds. But for me and the boys, these little ultralight tents will do just fine.
And then there are sleeping pads. Who knew choosing a sleeping pad was such a thing? I’m learning so much friends. Like R-value …. I was like, R-what? Pads are rated for their ability to protect you from the cold ground, and the higher the R-value the warmer you supposedly are.
My current sleeping pad is the Therm-a-Rest ProLite Plus pad for women, with an R-value of 3.9. Anywhere in the 3’s is pretty good for all season camping, and closer to 4 is probably good for women like me who tend to get cold. I’ve seen R-values as high as 6 so there’s definitely warmer if you need it. So far I like current pad, although I wish it was a tad thicker. Width is just 1.5” when fully inflated, which I feel is barely enough to keep my wide hips off the ground.
Jason’s pad, however, is the Big Agnes Air Core Ultra, coming in with an R-value of 4.5 and thickness at 3.25”. At first I regretted my purchase when this bad boy came on the scene, BUT, a couple of downsides, in my opinion. Inflation takes a bit more work, although it does come with this bag thingy that helps you blow it up. I have yet to attempt but Jason swears it’s easy. Another issue is the noise. Every time Jason would shift his weight, it sounded like someone was scooting around on a rubber inner tube. And that’s why I always bring ear plugs.
ONE MORE quick shout out. After our last adventure Theron definitely earned himself a backpack upgrade, remember? Shortly after we headed out to REI and had him fitted properly for a pack (I HIGHLY recommend getting fitted, game changer). We came away with the REI Tarn 65 kids backpack, green/teal color. It’s a bit pricey at $165, but REI just had a sale on it so we went back and got the updated price. Score!
Ok, enough about gear. I could geek out here for hours. All that to say we slept well and our sleep systems did the job. Theron rated his pack as comfortable after the 20-mile test. More prep for Wonderland.
The hike back down was relatively uneventful. The brutal two miles up are just as brutal going down, but the rest felt easy, apart from throbbing feet. Of course the flies returned as soon as we left the lake, as if they were waiting to escort us. During long stretches of trail I kept dreaming of having a long-sleeved hooded sun shirt to ward off both flies and sun while Subarus on rocky dirt roads simultaneously danced in my head.
Another fun and sweaty VenHuizen outdoor adventure in the blog books. Btw, if you have a long-sleeved hooded sun shirt you swear by, leave a note in the comments. In the meantime I’ll be stalking REI and Amazon for just the right one. 🙂
HIKE DETAILS:
Chain and Doelle Lakes
Total Distance: Around 20 – 23 miles
Elevation Gain: 5,000 ft
Difficulty: Difficult (those last 2 miles)
Location: Off Highway 2, at Stevens Pass
Passes required: Northwest Forest Pass
Comments: I’d say trail is doable for most if you start early and have a lot of energy. It’s LONG and steep. For a fun day-hike consider hiking to Josephine Lake for lunch which is about 5 miles in and just 10-15 minutes off the PCT. Beautiful day use area there in front of the lake but also several campsites. Privy available.
