This past week I took off a bit early on Friday for a little backpacking trip up near Slide Lake. My initial plan was to hike into Enjar Lake that evening and then hike the ridge to the North to Granite Lake. After chasing a pretty good sized bear out of NF 16 I hit the trail around 4 PM and was reminded that it had rained that evening. All the underbrush was so wet I was instantly soaked to bone. I didn't know whether to walk or swim. Made Slide in good time and began wading my way toward Enjar.
Looking to the north I began to be humbled by the ridge and feeling the weight in my now water logged pack made me think twice about my plan. However I soon noticed a nice alpine meadow develop and I knew a pass out of this meadow would lead to Whale Lake.
It was about 6 at this point, I had just crossed a large creek and was a couple hundred yards from Enjar. With plenty of light I figured Whale Lake was in range. I left the fisherman's trail for the road less traveled and began up to the pass. The road was steep and decently thick underbrush made it interesting. For fear of not gaining the elevation I needed and painting myself in a corner I actually climbed too far and found myself about 200 ft above the pass. I shed this elevation quickly, actually about 75 ft of it on my hind end when my feet slipped out. A few hundred yards later I glimpsed my prize, Whale Lake.
The lake is super cool with several waterfalls feeding it along with a large inlet stream. Very steep relief flanks it on all sides.
I basically ran down to the lake at this point and reached it at about 8. I was pretty gassed at this point and set out to get some food and camp situated. There is a campsite on a knob on the SW corner of the lake.
I wet a line for a while opting for my spinning rod over the fly rod as a back cast would be tricky without wading fairly deep at the lake inlet. Using a mepps number one I had a hit almost every cast, not very many resulting in hookups and the best fish was only about 8 inches. He might as well have been prime rib to me and made an excellent right cap. I imagine mosquito pattern flies would do well as Whale Lake had the worst mosquitoes I've found in WA.
That night a thunderstorm rolled through and according to my tin cup that I set on a stump dumped an inch and a half of rain. I was tired so it didn't interfere with my sleep much.
That morning I awoke to more rain and when it subsided more mosquitoes. There was a boulder field pass to Granite that I thought about for a bit but decided I'd had enough fun.
Waterfall and boulder field to Granite.
Southern side of the lake.
I broke camp and took off up to the pass back to Enjar. There is a boulder field that runs the southern portion of the pass. I would recommend using this to get up and down. I missed it on the way in and it was rough.
The look back.
Boulder field.
The meadow looked good in the early morning sun. There were some large boulders and a good stream moving through it.
Meadow
Peak to the south of the pass.
Looked like a likely place to find a bear but I didn't see any while I was up there. With that terrain they are safe from me. There were a couple really "smart" ruffed grouse around.
The rest of the hike out was pretty tame though there is a large creek coming out of this pass. DO NOT go to the west of it. I made that mistake and spent some more time on my rear end sliding down the hill. The terrain is much more manageable to the East. Hike out took 3 hours.
All in all this was quite the challenge. I would recommend that if someone wants to do it you pick a dry day later in the season. This area is absolute incredible, it is a shame that it doesn't get a bit more traffic to keeps things a little better maintained.
I will be going back to Whale Lake and will probably continue to Granite Lake. I will flag the trail for others.
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