The original pick for this hike was Big Heart Lake, but with nasty weather creeping in, Greg called an audible with Johnny G. to go to the East side of the mountains to a lake recommended by John’s son Quinn – Lake Margaret. It was a great call as the 7 of us had really great weather for hiking, fishing, frisbee-golfing, bourbon tasting, cribbage and day hiking. We got a little drizzle in the evenings, but nothing major.
John Dossett picked up John Howell and Patrick Boyer from SeaTac on his way up from Portland and the four of us met with Greg, Ralph and Johnny G. at the Party Barn (Ralph’s place) in Leavenworth. We headed in for the ~10 mile hike to the lake – took us a little over 6 hours. The first 4.5 miles or so had a slight up but was mostly along the creek with several broken bridges that had to be navigated around (see the pics). The next 5.5 was a long slow grind up to Lake Margaret. The mushrooms along the trail were amazing! There were some people already up there on a Thursday night but we found some good enough spots to sleep for the night.
The next day Greg, Ralph and Johnny G. bagged Cape Horn with a 6 hour round trip day hike while the rest of us hung out and played cribbage, explored Lake Margaret and fished like crazy! So many hungry trout. We all caught as many as we wanted but only kept the big ones for dinner. At one point Patrick said he caught 30 but only kept 7. The other thing that happened was that the group camping in the big group site left so we moved in and took it over – perfect alpine lake group campsite. That night was a really nice fire, grilled fish and bourbon tasting! John Dossett was the winner this year with a Portland based bourbon called Freeland. Scott had a close second with a Willet Pot Still Reserve.
The next day we all hiked up to Lake Mary which got us another 2,500 feet of elevation and killer views of the top of the Enchantments and the rain clouds parked on the West Side of the Cascades. Pat and I spent the day fishing and catching around Lake Mary while the rest of the guys played some epic frisbee golf. We saw a momma Marmot and two of her babies running around on the side of the hill just up from the lake as well. After the hike back we had another lovely evening with some light rain, medium sized fire and som more fish on the grill.
The hike out started about 9am and took us 5-ish hours. Cold beers awaited us at the trailhead and then we headed back to Ralph’s to re-group and then into Leavenworth for some snitzel, brots and more beers. Great trip! Click here for the full photo album on Google.
Lake Margaret as viewed from the hike up to Lake Mary
