Independence and North Lakes — Friday, Jul. 20, 2001

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

I took my five year old son, Jeremy, on his first backpacking trip. There was only one other car at the trailhead when we arrived at 10:00. Within fifteen minutes a group of twenty passed us on their way to North Lake. Many only had shorts, T-shirts and no pack. I hope no one took a wrong turn and got lost. I, on the other hand, had a fifty pound pack with the gear for both of us, including the eleventh essential for a five year old: candy. Jeremy carried his stuffed animal and other such essentials. The trail was clear, dry and well-maintained. The big attraction was seeing a ""real spring"" with lots of water coming right out of a crack. We arrived at the south end of the lake after about an hour. We chose a site at the northwest end of the lake. Two guys and a black lab occupied the other. A couple with a rubber raft filled the third site at about 7:00 p.m. There were lots of mosquitoes, but the bug repellant worked well. We took a hike up the trail to North Lake and enjoyed the view down to the deep aqua-colored waters of Independence Lake. Fog rolled in around 4:00. It never rained, but it may as well have. All the vegetation became soaked. There were still a few patches of snow and lots of flowers. We managed to scrape together enough dry wood to enjoy a fire before bed. That was another highlight of the trip. We were awake at 5:30 a.m., but stayed in the tent until 6:30. After exploring some more, we broke camp and were back at the car by noon.