The pups and I spent about 6 hours on the trails today. The plan was for Pete Lake, but I was bored with only that, so we went up to Waptus Pass as well. I had not been up there in over 15 years. Any snow that had fallen was melted, aside from a tiny bit up near the pass above 4,500 ft. A bear had left some nice fresh prints on a footbridge in the snow.

The trail is to Pete is muddy, as it often is, so wear your boots! There was plenty of water in puddles for the dogs, so carrying extra for just that trip alone would be optional. Otherwise the trail is in good shape. I think there was one tree to step over. Fall colors - stunning in places, not much in others. Nothing like the Alpine Lakes Wilderness BUT we only saw 2 people all day over 14 miles so I am satisfied. 

Pete Lake is lower than I have ever seen it. The dogs had fun slopping in the mud around the edge of the lake. I'll have fun cleaning out the car tomorrow. 

No bugs. The trail up to Waptus was lovely. No mud really. Beautiful short, steep switchbacks like I love with just the right amount of moisture and rock to dirt/bark ratio. I'm pretty particular, I guess. Lol. 

A day on the trails is a day well spent. Cheers. 

I did a 2-night Fri-Sun backpack, both nights at Pete Lake, with a Saturday day hike loop on the PCT / waptus pass / waptus burn trails, and a Sunday day hike up to Spectacle and back down to the Pete Lake trailhead.

Some mosquitos at Pete Lake but wasn’t a major issue! Met a ranger on trail who said the area was about 2-3 weeks ahead of usual in terms of bugs due to early snowmelt and is over the hump. More mosquitos at higher elevations on the PCT east of the lake.

Saturday's hike: Coming southbound on the waptus burn trail, the turnoff to the waptus pass trail was definitely missable — signage is on the wrong side of a tree from this angle and the intersection is a Y rather than a T so you don’t obviously see it. I missed it the first time! Waptus Pass Trail was great as a connector but otherwise a pretty meh trail -- steep switchbacks and not much scenery.

Sunday's hike: To get to Spectacle Lake from Pete, you have two options: (1) ford a very wide stream (this weekend, people were saying water was about up to their knees, but otherwise fairly doable), (2) take a detour onto the PCT that adds 1.5mi in each direction (I don't think much extra climbing though), which also involves crossing a stream due a bridge that's out. However, this stream is much narrower and has a decent log crossing accessed via a bootpath just downriver of the downed bridge. Once I got closer to Spectacle, I took a shortcut to Spectacle via what AllTrails labels as the Old Spectacle Lakes trail. This was very brushy, extremely steep, and tough to follow. It also ended at some wetlands right before getting to the lake, which I wasn't in the mood to go through so just picked a vantage point overlooking the lake and called it good enough. Not sure I'd recommend that route. 

Road paved and in great condition all the way until the last 2 miles, which were unpaved and a bit potholed but no problem at all for my VW golf so probably fine for everyone.

A nice 25 mile loop, this time counterclockwise instead of the last trip report. Along Pete Lake Trail for 1.25 miles, up Tired Creek Trail to Pollalie Ridge Trail (Checked out the ridge lookout), across to Waptus Pass and up Waptus Burn, south on the PCT to Lemah Meadows, and Pete Lake Trail back to the trailhead. Road in is pretty much all you can ask for, some small potholes but pretty doable for almost all cars. Trailhead was 1/3 full at 8:30 on a Monday, toilet was pretty much as expected. Got to resupply / trail angel again for friends on Section J!

Tired Creek Trail: Starts brushy at the bottom, are sections where trail is hard to see (easy to find though). Once past the old forest road, becomes more open and kicks up hard. Lots of the elevation is done here, this is the way to do it to get it over with at the beginning. Some bugs down at the bottom, generally died off until I took breaks and stopped for a snack at the top, when they would reappear and gradually increase. Close to the top, start to get glimpses of Rainier across the valley, and see more of the surrounding ridgelines.

Pollalie Ridge Trail: Hopped up to the first ridge lookout, as Tired Creek drops you off quite close to it. Great look at the ridgelines to the northwest and southwest, and over to where the PCT is. Continued west towards the Waptus Burn Trail, and had the enjoyable experience of going down in elevation, just to go straight back up. This is the area with the most blowdowns, though all were quite easy for me to step over. This brings you onto the Waptus Pass Trail, which takes you to Waptus Pass.

Waptus Burn Trail: The aforementioned up, which takes you right back to where you were and brings you to the PCT from Waptus Pass. This was at least more gentle than Tired Creek, and didn't have too much brush or blowdowns. There were some marshy sections where it took me a second to locate the trail (it continues directly across). For all the trails here, routefinding was quite easy and the signage was great, but I am a believer in having GPS like Gaia as well.

PCT from Waptus Burn Trail to Lemah Meadows: Had lunch right next to the Waptus Burn Trail and headed south, following the rolling ridge. The scenery here is top-notch, I find myself taking way too many pictures every time. Stopped off at a lake with no name that most maps say is the top of the Cooper River, pumped water and then went for an incredibly refreshing swim. Ran into about four steps on snow, only time I saw it all day. Saw three other people during this section, only people I saw. After the ridge and the gorgeous views as seen below, many switchbacks take you down to Lemah Meadows. Small brushy sections near the bottom of this, but not a problem in shorts.

Pete Lake Trail: Changed from hiking boots to trail runners for the Pete Lake Trail and did not regret it. This is by far the easiest trail of the day, pretty wide and very flat in comparison. The tread and the grade make it a great pack trail, so watch your step for presents from various horses. Was getting late in the day so I hit this section strong and did 6 miles in 95 minutes. Even at the speed, still had mosquitoes biting me for the last three miles or so, I'm guessing my picaridin had mostly worn off by then.

Garmin logged 25 miles and 5300 feet of elevation gain. Total moving time 8 hours, elasped time 10:30.

My partner and I weren't in the mood to commemorate the 4th of July or listen to fireworks, so we took off for Okanogan-Wenatchee NF to enjoy a short backpacking trip in Alpine Lakes Wilderness! We totally ripped off a similar itinerary from trip reporter K_Stachowski's recent outing (thanks for the inspo, K_Stachowski!)  My hip is a bit bum so it was a relatively lowkey affair.

There was room for about 6 other cars, plus multiple horse trailers, at the Waptus River/Cooper River TH around noon on July 4th. Bathroom in good shape. There are lots of early season huckleberries around 2,500 feet near the trailhead this time of year. The trail to Waptus is dusty and drags on a bit, but there are a few good areas to camp (every 3 miles or so) and to hop in the river and cool off.

We cooked dinner on a beach on the southwest shore of Waptus Lake, near Quick creek. There were tons of other hikers, plus a fun party that brought a packraft. My partner and I gathered water and started hiking west, up the Waptus Pass Trail, around 7 p.m. with hopes of quieter camping. We didn't see anyone between then and 9:30 a.m. the next day — nice!

Waptus Pass has 3 or 4 large campsites with ample water this time of year. Mosquitoes were about a 6/10 on my tolerance scale (perhaps more of a nuisance to folks with a lower tolerance) but we managed ok with headnets and bug pants. Bugs are much better down near the larger lakes (3,000 feet) and pretty much a nonfactor around the TH. We ran into a few blowdowns throughout, but nothing to write home about. The trail is in relatively good shape throughout (watch out for horse doodoo).

The hike from Pete Lake back to the Cooper River/Waptus Lake TH had a ton of hikers, paddlers and campers (I didn't realize how popular Cooper River is). We made it back to the car around 2 p.m. and were unsurprised to see the trailhead parking absolutely blasted.

Distance: 23.91 miles 
Elevation: 3,937

3 Day/2 Night Backpacking Trip (Loop)

Parked at Salmon La Sac on Thursday afternoon. Still room in the lot at about 4pm. Hiked the Waptus River Trail for about 7 miles and camped at a lovely spot by the river. The next morning I hiked the remaining 2ish miles to Waptus lake before trekking about 7 miles over Waptus Pass to Pete lake for the second night. Hiked back to the car on day 3 via the Pete Lake trail and the Cooper River trails. 

Waptus River Trail
Well maintained. A bit overgrown in places, but it's not difficult to follow. There are established campsites beginning at about 3.5 miles in and then sprinkled throughout the remainder of the trail. The bridge to Waptus Camp is out and, personally, I'm not fording that river. Camping at Quick Creek Camp (~9 mi from TH) is a good idea and saves you the crossing, but expect a few other backpackers there. 

Waptus Pass
Its about 6 miles over the pass between Waptus and Pete Lakes. I clocked roughly 1,500 gain and then just as much on the decent. This trail has more blowdowns to navigate, but its not unmanageable. In a few places it is easy to loose the trail though and my GPS came in handy a few times. The meadows at the top are very wet and muddy. My boots were soaked due to runoff from my pants and I had to let them dry out all afternoon and through the night.

Pete Lake Trail
Expect to see many other hikers and backpackers here. I got to Pete Lake at about 2 pm on a Friday afternoon and it wasn't long before it began filling up. Don't expect much privacy (the family who set up next to me could be heard snoring and farting all night). With many people come many different habits, but please make sure to leave no trace and remain bear (and chipmunk) aware. 

Cooper River Trail
On the third day I combined the Pete Lake and Cooper River trails to head back to the car at Salmon La Sac. No complaints here. The trail is pretty easy to follow overall, but a bit confusing where the trail passes through the Owhi Campground (and it passes straight through the middle of the campground - a fact that made for a few grumpy campers). I do love Gaia for situations like that - used it to route find a bit.