Lake Dorothy - Lake Bear - Lake Deer — Saturday, Jul. 8, 2017

Hi my name is swichback ladybug. I am 6 years old. I went to dorothy lake and I swam in the lake It was special because i slept by the lake. I hiked in on saturday morning. I hiked out on Sunday afternoon. it was fun. only over the age of 5 would like it.

Switchback Ladybug family notes: This is a little longer than usual because I (mom) was a little nervous because it was SL's first overnight and thought you might be asking yourself some of the same Q's...

- On the road between Money Creek campground and the Dorothy Lake trail head: There are virtually no places to pull out and camp the night before. So if you want to get an early start on the trail (which you should if you are overnighting), plan accordingly and stay at Money Creek or elsewhere. We were extremely lucky and found a pull out about 2 miles from the trail head. Not ideal but it worked. Do not count on this spot being available!

- Get on the trail as early as you can if you are planning to overnight. The campsites fill FAST. We awoke at 6:30am and got on the trail by 8:00am and were lucky to get the site we did. (Some friends who had 3 Littles got a late afternoon start last week and were forced to ask some friendlies to share a site). Just a note that most of the hikers who are whizzing by you on the trail are likely heading to Snoqualmie, Bear Lake and Deer Lake so don't freak out.

- The campsites at Dorothy Lake are totally unmarked. Keep a look out for 'deer trails' mostly on the lake side that indicate potential sites. Our Little was a little fretful because we couldn't say with absolute certainty that we were "there yet." We got creative and made it a game but, boy, that gets old fast. We lucked out on found a great spot about 500 yards before the last toilet. There were 2 solid tent spots and an additional 3rd if you are desperate. There was a small creek running through complete with frogs and other delights. Our saving grace was that we had lake access. It was a little muddy but totally doable once you waded out a little.

- Gnats. They were tolerable during the day and afternoon and disappeared as breezes came through. But wow, they were bad at just as the sun disappeared at sunset, thankfully after we had dinner. It will drive your Little crazy and cranky. Solution? Walk away from your site and keep moving. Do not stay at your site. It will be maddening. We took 2 walks to the main river - past the toilets, down to the 'flats', looked for animal tracks, etc. By the time we got back it was time to go to bed and she was thrilled to do so.

- Switchback Ladybug's backpack. Instead of using her regular school backpack, she used my old rock climbing back pack. I think it was because she saw us using our internal frames and she wanted something similar. Of course, the sizing was completely off. She was excited to do an overnight and she insisted on carrying a whole bunch of stuff because she suddenly had room in her backpack. Thankfully, we limited it to just her sleeping bag and was really glad we did so because Hubby ended up carrying her pack for a little bit when she got cranky on the way in. I'm glad to report that she carried her own pack the entire way out - so whew! I think we will either stick to her school back pack or look for a used kids internal frame on our next over night.

Happy trails.