Clara and Marion Lakes — Sunday, Jul. 1, 2012

Central Washington > Wenatchee

I led my Early Season Shakedown Backpack for the Cascadians this weekend to Clara & Marion Lakes. When we arrived at Clara Lake we could see a tent in the campsite in the trees so we went over to Marion Lake to see if we could find a campsite there. All we found was a marginal site with space for 1 tent, so we went back to Clara. The main camping area is in the trees with three larger sites with a little separation between them. I walked around the lake looking for more sites, but just found one site on the other side of the lake with space for 1 tent. The other party (a man & his daughter) were gracious when I apologized for having to move in by them. After camp was set up two of out party members headed off to climb up on the ridge to the west of the lakes while the rest of us just hung around camp or explored the lake for the rest of the day. There were lots of day hikers, but no other backpackers except the party that was already there when we arrived. We had a mix of sun & clouds with one substantial rain shower accompanied by some thunder. The next morning was a mix of sun & clouds becoming mostly cloudy. About mid-day we packed up & headed out. There were not many day hikers on Sunday. There were some mosquitoes, but no snow. The main wildflower bloom is still to come, but we did see Columbia Clematis in bloom along the trail & lots of Tweedy's Lewisia in bloom both along the trail & at the lake. Though not the scenic climax of the Cascades, this was a good first-of-the-season backpack & we all had a good time.