Sheep Lake — Wednesday, Jul. 25, 2018

This was a fun hike. Brought the dog and kitten🐱. The parking lot was almost full when we arrived around 11 am, my fault for heading out so late. Within milliseconds of opening the car door, the mosquitos were upon us. My bug spray was not enough, you need some industrial strength, DEET infused, ozone depleting bug spray to do anything about them. I am not kidding. The trail was the most difficult at the beginning where there was loose large rocks making up the trail making it a little tricky to get a good footing but once passed them the trail was fine. It is quite narrow and my dog doesn't behave herself around people and jumps up on them so passing people was a little daunting but we made it. Flowers were in bloom everywhere. In shady areas wild strawberries grew, no berries yet but soon. The views up here were amazing, both looking up at the cliffs and ridges and across the highway towards Naches Peak. When we arrived at Sheep Lake, we were greeted with all of the mosquitos in the world but also some of the most amazing views of the lake surrounded by mountain ridges. We sat there for a couple of hours allowing the kitten to explore and the dog to chase sticks and rocks in the lake. My lunch consisted of 17% unwanted bugs but that's nature for you. We then trekked back, making it back to the car around 4:30. We made the most of the Northwest Forest day pass and stopped at Bumping Lake on the way back to Yakima, hardly any bugs there. The higher the altitude the worse the bugs seem. Would absolutely do this again, with better bug spray.