We all woke up before the sun could cast its fire across the sky, a little giddy with anticipation and excitement. We quickly packed up and jetted down to enjoy our last urban breakfast for the next 6 days. Sitting around the table we were all a little hunched over our plates like we were protecting our sausage and eggs from being snatched away by someone. We finally relaxed a bit and started looking over the maps, one more time, chatting about the crucial intersections and the long climb up to Lake Augusta. It’s a tough 8 mile hike with full backpacks.
You start off on a well maintained trail in a beautiful forest. And then you start climbing. The trail becomes steep and dusty, and over the next three miles it doesn’t ever seem to lighten up any. The kids are familiar with taxing trails, so we just set a slow pace and give our legs frequent rest stops.
One of our stops is always at this goliath fallen grey log on a short flat spot along the ridge through the ghost forest. I call it the ghost forest because a fire raged through here and left everything in its path charred. The trees are all grey with black scars from the fire. I love it and can see beauty in the ashes, but my kids just think it’s creepy.
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The trail winds its way through grey forests, green forests, across creeks, up on ridgelines and down through sweet smelling wildflower meadows before it finally arrives at Lake Augusta. The trek is long and hard, but it is beautiful and worth every step. The kids don’t especially enjoy the hike up. They always talk about how wonderful it would be to have a helicopter drop us off on top instead of having to hike it. It’s hard hiking up with everything we need to live for 6 days, but the kids have learned how to set a goal, prepare and work hard to achieve that goal, and to be patient in the process because the accomplishment and excitement of the final goal is so fun and exciting.
The kids love Lake Augusta. After a long day of hiking, we walk up to the waterline and watch the trout rise for dinner. After a few comments about how beautiful it is up here, the kids finally find a soft spot on its grassy shores and relax into a quiet nap. After a little rest, we get our packs back on and continue up to the saddle above the lake to set up our base camp and eat our own dinner.
Base camp is an important place for us. It’s our little refuge after long days of exploring and adventuring in the wilderness; we are pretty picky though! It needs to be up high on the ridgelines, or at least high enough to minimize the pesky mosquitoes and it needs to have fantastic views with a clear scope to be able to watch the sun set and rise.
After all the tents are pitched, we have dinner, highlight the walk up and then talk about the adventures for the next day. The kids are tired and the first day ends early, just after the sun sets. We love watching the sunsets. It’s such a peaceful time and we usually start talking about something that leads us into the night.
We talk and play games as the stars poke through the darkening canopy above us. Late into the night we finally stop talking and lay there watching the shooting stars until we, or I wake up to watch the sunrise.
Our second day is usually pretty chill. Our legs are still tired and we want to rest them for the rest of our adventures. We went down to Lake Augusta and the kids used their fish catching skills by catching trout with their bare hands. My kids are so awesome. They read in a book how to catch fish in a stream with their hands and they actually went out in the wilderness and did it. We released them all, but I was so impressed.
We also jumped in or waded in the ice cold water to cool down a bit. Then we had to warm up by stretching out on the boulders soaking up the heat from the hot sun. The kids played on the rocks and we enjoyed the relaxed day.
Back at camp, we climb the rocks up the rim around the lake until we find the perfect viewpoint to sit and enjoy the beautiful panoramic views; we talk a lot, play games, eat and get ready to watch the sun set.
On the third day we spent the day exploring Big Jim Mountain. Climbing to the top of Big Jim is not technical and the kids love the hike, elevation 7,763. The hike to Big Jim is mostly off trail. From the saddle you can climb up the rocks and follow the ridgeline around Lake Augusta or if you’re at Lake Augusta, you just have to climb up the rocks to the rim. We enjoy sitting up there and watching the osprey catch fish out of Lake Augusta. Climbing Big Jim is super fun and if you hike all the way up to Lake Augusta, you just have to take the extra time to experience Big Jim Mountain.
Our fourth day is spent exploring the wildflower meadows along Painter Creek. We start out by hiking down to Carter Lake. I love this lake because it is so much fun for the kids. I sit on the grass and relax while the kids are off, walking around the lake gawking at all the frogs and counting each one. It doesn’t take them long to circle this little lake and then we are on our way down the Painter Creek trail. The wildflowers are so beautiful. The trail can get a little hard to follow sometimes and a little wet, but it’s totally worth it. The rush of the creek, the sweet breeze and all the brilliant colors are breathtaking.
The fifth day takes us back up on the ridgelines to an amazing little alpine lake. We traverse the ridgeline south from our base camp up to Icicle Ridge. We explored east to several beautiful rocky viewpoints and then we went west, down to the icy little lake. At the lake we had lunch, explored and then decided to hike back down to Carter Lake. This was our last day up here and we wanted to see the wildflowers one more time. After a relaxing stroll though the sweet meadow, we quickened the pace back up to our viewpoint for dinner and the sunset.
Our last day on this trip starts like any every other day: I get up early and make a delicious cup of hot french press coffee; I find a comfortable place to sit and relax, then watch the sunrise, read and journal, and then fix breakfast. After breakfast we quickly break down our camp and start the long hike back down to our urban luxuries.
We love this trail and I hope you will love it too. Tell me about a trail you love and why.