Hyas Lake — Saturday, Jul. 1, 2023

Decided to go on my first solo backpacking trip with my 2 kids (12 y.o and 2 y.o.) on Saturday 7/1. My plan was to go to Hyas Lake and if we could not find a spot until upper Hyas, then we would try to find a spot along Cle Elum River for a dispersed camping (there were tons).

Road and Parking Forest road was great. Scatter creek crossing was pretty mellow and I saw many sedans that made it to the trailhead. Bad traffic on i-90 from Kachess Lake area to exit to Lake Easton. 

There were quite a few people who drove ATVs and UTVs pretty fast along Cle Elum Valley road, so just be aware when you're in a tight corner.

Parking lot at the trailhead was like a zoo. I found a nice spot at around 2:30 PM near Cathedral Pass TH. I didn't find many dayhikers, mostly were backpackers so best to come on a weekday.

Trail Suprisingly, we mostly had the trail to ourselves. The trail was straightforward and easy to Hyas Lake. Some overgrown and mud and of course some fun creek crossing for the kids. We met quite a few of trail runners who came back from Tuck and Robin after we set up our camp.

Camp I was also surprised that finding a great spot to camp was pretty easy. Seemed like everyone was heading for Marmot and Jade or Tuck and Robin. Our camp was pretty close to the trail, with a great access to the lake and its little sandy area as well as great view of Cathedral Rock just above us. Previous backpackers also left a nice rock fire ring (there wasn't any campfire restrictions for Hyas Lake), but we did not use that and use our Jetboil instead.

Bugs were not too bad. My kids wore those patches and bugs were just buzzing past them. Strangely, there were no bugs at the lake.

Overall It's a great place for family backpacking trip or for a beginner. My kids seemed to enjoy it. Because the site was so easy to access, we had to share the site with a couple of backpackers who came late and were talking loud when the kids were sleeping. Other than that, it's a great place and next time we would go further to upper Hyas to camp.