Our group headed East to escape the Western Washington drizzle, and missed the rain all day. The trail to the lake is in good shape. The river crossing just past the trainhead is easily negotiated on the large log, and you'll spot the trail hidden on other side. The trees and foilage have turned to bright reds and yellows, and are striking. The lake setting is quite beautiful, with ample campsites. Many of the larch have turned golden, while some are still green. Our route to the summit began at the SE end of lake at the log jam, working up the left side of boulder field to get up on ridge seen from below. Following the ridge wall around to the SE side, you'll find two fairly easy passages along the rock face leading up to the ridge. If you miss these, there is always a bit of bush bashing to ascend from the south side. Once we got started up toward the ridge, we found staying on the ridge itself offered the easiest route - just follow this right to the top. Rock formations become prounounced, while the summit itself is basically a flattoped area 6,931'. Views down to the lake and beyond are superb, with color everywhere. Colors and views W down over the Napequa River valley to the White Mtns were quite striking. While we had made good time, alas, the clock was winding down, with 6:30 sunset reminding us to move on. We wanted to avoid digging out our headlamps. Our thoughts may have been affected by the call of the 59er diner at Coles Corner, with some swearing they smelled our dinner cooking. Its days like these that make us appreciate how precious life really is. Oh well, life moves on!!

Take Highway 2 east from Stevens Pass to Lake Wenatchee turn off. Turn left and head toward Lake Wenatchee. Keep right on county road 22 until Chiwawa river road. Drive 14 miles on Chiwawa road until you see the trailhaed sign for Schaefer lake. The big question is always is the Log Jam still place to cross the river. YES its in and is very simple to cross. A very large tree has fallen on the log Jam to make is easy to cross. The first half mile after cross the river is bushy and over grown and muddy. But then you start heading up the valley gradaully climbing through sprue trees until you turn the corner at 3 miles and cross a new bridge at 3.5 miles. Then you climb a 1000 feet in switch backs in a mile. At 4.5 mile you pass lower Schaefer Lake, and at five mile you reach Schaefer lake. Campsites are available on the point. All snow is gone and bugs are out. Lots of scambles and ridge exploring can be done if you make a multiday trip. When you head back to your car, drive 7 miles to the and of the road and check out the old mining town of Trinity, and maybe another hike to check out is Buck Pass or Chiwawa basin beautiful meadows hikes.

This is an excellent place to see fall color. Alas, though the blueberries may be gone from the bushes, those same bushes are turning incredible shades of yellow, red and purple. I was amazed at the amount of fall color around the lake. The larches are about 50% yellow and 50% green, leaving time to see them before the needles are gone. I found the log jam quite easy to cross, and the newer bridge across Schaefer Creek is well made. There was one log across the trail that horse riders would have to go around. A truly memorable place to visit in the fall, yet I had it all to myself that day! And I caught two beautiful rainbows to boot.

We left the Schaefer Lake TH in spotty rain (so much for escaping the rain on the eastside). The log crossing over the Chiwawa River is pretty good on 2+ foot log (looks like it could wash out in heavy river flow though). The trail had recently been brushed out for the first 1/2 mile and the rest of the trail is in great shape. We continued up the trail in the damp conditions, which would shower hard and then stop. The tree cover for the first 600’pretty much sheltered us from getting wet. We arrived at the beautiful main lake where we found many patches of Blueberries to feast on. Two other parties were at the lake. We found a nice site near the SE corner of lake. We set the tent up in the rain and then decided it was too stormy to be outside. While we napped in the tent, the wind blew hard and sounded like a hurricane was coming through. Around 3:30pm the sun started to appear so it was time to end our nap. I decided to scramble up Pk 6754 above D Lake and Janet decided to pick quarts of Blueberries and the lake. My route had me headed up to the 5480+ saddle first. Just before the saddle, I met 3 people hiking on a nice game/fisherman’s path to D Lake. I followed path to a 6120’ col (nice meadow surrounded in larches that would be nice for camping). I left the path and scrambled up and to Pk 6764’(1.5 hr from Lk). I had some nice views however clouds still were sitting on the crest. When I arrived back at the lake, I noticed the patch of Blueberries Janet started picking was gone, she had completely cleaned it out. I went to another patch and ate many hand fills of berries. Sunday morning the lake had filtered sun on it. We headed out for Sylvester by ascending at the edge of the boulder field from the SE corner of the lake. We continued SE in small trees to the base of the rock face, then traverse along a ledge at the base around a corner to lightly treed easy slope. We continued up this slope/ridge to the summit of Sylvester (~2hrs, no register). We were treated to wonderful views. The summit is flat and there are no views of Schaefer Lake (good lake views below on the ridge). Lots of nice flat areas to camp on the summit if one has the energy and desire (water could be a problem). After doing the normal summit thing for 45 minutes (identifying the many surrounding peaks), it was time to head for Crook. We dropped down a gully to the large 5500’ meadow. However this was slower that I expected due to grazing on the many super Blueberries patches. We headed up the scree slope where the creek began to drop. At the top left edge, go into the small trees and up a bit to below a gully heading toward the summit. Continue up a series of shallow gullies/basins to ~6500’, then up open terrain to the right summit. Found an old film can under the cairn that had only 3 parties signed in. It had no pencil so others may have summited without signing. Crook is higher than Sylvester but Sylvester’s views were a bit better. For the return, at the creek cross & headed up directly over Pt 5915 and west of Pt 6170 to interest the ridge ~5900’, then back to the lake (~8.5 hrs). This is a very nice area to spend a weekend. Above Schaefer Lake, there are many larches mixed in with the other trees. Be a nice area to visit the first of October. The Bugs are about gone! Stats: 20.5 mile, 8300’ gain (includes all the bonuses)

Log crossing is tricky but doable at the start. Blowdowns exist only up until you reach the bridge crossing the stream at 4100 feet. No more blowdowns after. Solid snow starts at 5000 feet.