Scouting Alpine Lakes

[bowman]

Hey guys,

Is it too early to begin scouting in the ALW?  I've never been in there before, but I have been going over the maps.   I have every weekend free and I plan to scout until bear season and then hopefully tag a bear.  I have the last part of August and the first three weeks off in September and I'm hoping that I'll have some bucks located to go after with my bow and possibly elk if I can find them. 

[jackelope]

I don't think it's too early necessarily, but snow pack is still a concern in certain areas.

[BONEHUNTERNW]

Yeah I would think that you would have a pretty good chance of running into snow still. Might want to wait till after the 4th of July. Snowpack is going to be pretty prevalent at the higher elevations still. I just heard a couple weeks ago there was 6 inches of late snow that fell up in the higher elevations. During that bit of weather we had...... cooled off enough to snow up high. Look at some of the trails you might be thinking of using, they will typically have an accessible date listed for them online.

[Duckslayer89]

I would wait I ran into about 4ft covering the trail last week and got snowed on another 2 inches. Tons of guys last year for the high buck hunt and lots of hikers. Idk if the other wilderness units get hit as hard as the alpine does. I'm talking 20-30 people a day on unpopular trails even.

[bowman]

Thanks for the advice.  I plan to hit the lower elevation trails first.  If you don't mind saying, what trail were you on Duckslayer?  Also, I am going to be archery hunting so I'll be before the high hunt actually starts. 

[jackelope]

Not sure if I would bother with any of the lower elevation stuff. Low elevation in the ALW?

[bobcat]

Lower elevation would be by the roads, and there are deer, because I've seen them in the headlights while driving in early in the morning. But never a buck. Not saying there aren't any, but I'd go as high as possible for bucks.

[Karl Blanchard]

Bring bug spray

[ian_padron]

I've been up to about 7500 feet a couple times already this year in the ALW, definitely still plenty of snow, especially on the North facing slopes. Haven't seen too much for sign up high yet.

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[jamesfromseattle]

Bring bug spray

 

Was up to almost 7,000 in the northern part of ALW. Planned on camping but the bugs were so bad I turned around as soon as I got there.

Snow on the north slopes started around 5,000 where I was. Above 6,500 had snow everywhere. Saw one set of tracks (big ones) at about 6,000, but I'm not convinced the bulk of the herd has gone back up the hill yet.

[bowman]

My hunting buddy and I made the trip for one day. We were planning on doing longer, but he forgot his boots  . So we headed back to my house and it turned out to not be a bad thing, because a storm moved in. We day hiked the area I had been researching the following day.  There were more trails than my mapped portrayed and it became disappointing.  So after a full day of 10 miles and 5300' of elevation, we decided to hike out.  We reached my truck at 2am.  All-in-all we had a blast though.  Saw over 30 people, 1 doe, and some beautiful country. I don't plan on going into this area again.  Maybe we can figure this Wilderness area out before the hunting seasons arrive. I'll post some picture either tonight or tomorrow.

[ian_padron]

Bring bug spray

 

Was up to almost 7,000 in the northern part of ALW. Planned on camping but the bugs were so bad I turned around as soon as I got there.

Snow on the north slopes started around 5,000 where I was. Above 6,500 had snow everywhere. Saw one set of tracks (big ones) at about 6,000, but I'm not convinced the bulk of the herd has gone back up the hill yet.

Where abouts to the North? I was up Chiwaukum Creek and the skeeters were about as bad as I've ever seen them as well!

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[jamesfromseattle]

Bring bug spray

 

Was up to almost 7,000 in the northern part of ALW. Planned on camping but the bugs were so bad I turned around as soon as I got there.

Snow on the north slopes started around 5,000 where I was. Above 6,500 had snow everywhere. Saw one set of tracks (big ones) at about 6,000, but I'm not convinced the bulk of the herd has gone back up the hill yet.

Where abouts to the North? I was up Chiwaukum Creek and the skeeters were about as bad as I've ever seen them as well!

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

I was sworn to secrecy on the specific location (scouting on someone else's recommendation--not that I actually saw any deer, anyways), but I was very close to there as the crow flies.  Probably under the same cloud of mosquitoes!  As soon as I got up around the snow line the wind died and bugs blocked out the freaking sun.  Can't remember ever seeing bugs worse than yesterday and I've been to the Amazon.

[Skyvalhunter]

Bring bug spray

 

Was up to almost 7,000 in the northern part of ALW. Planned on camping but the bugs were so bad I turned around as soon as I got there.

Snow on the north slopes started around 5,000 where I was. Above 6,500 had snow everywhere. Saw one set of tracks (big ones) at about 6,000, but I'm not convinced the bulk of the herd has gone back up the hill yet.

Where abouts to the North? I was up Chiwaukum Creek and the skeeters were about as bad as I've ever seen them as well!

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

VERY popular spot last year even with lack of deer and animals harvested.

[Duckslayer89]

High hunt needs to go permit only and they really put a lot of pressure on animals having the archery elk hunt and rifle deer at the same time. Kind of ridiculous. Years past was a early archery elk hunt so it didn't overlap. At least this year I'll get the first 5 days without orange vests popping out into meadows.

[WA1232]

High hunt needs to go permit only

No thank you. There is plenty of space up there. You feel overrun with people? Find a new place next year. Maybe they should make your elk hunt special permit too.

[teanawayslayer]

High hunt needs to go permit only

No thank you. There is plenty of space up there. You feel overrun with people? Find a new place next year. Maybe they should make your elk hunt special permit too.

x2 I haven't ran into another Hunter in the past three high hunts. Get away from the trails! Find a pocket that is brushy and hard to get into and you won't find people!

[huntandjeep]

High hunt needs to go permit only

No thank you. There is plenty of space up there. You feel overrun with people? Find a new place next year. Maybe they should make your elk hunt special permit too.

x2 I haven't ran into another Hunter in the past three high hunts. Get away from the trails! Find a pocket that is brushy and hard to get into and you won't find people!

X3. I've been doing it 2 years with my buddy that's been going for 10+. He's never seen another sole in his area.