Heather Lake (near Lake Wenatchee), Glasses Lake — Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2007

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - East

Backpacking with two 9-year-olds, we switched our trip to here at the last minute after reading reports of swarms of bugs at our original destination. Good thing; if these were the light bugs, I never want to see heavy bugs. DEET kept most of the mosquitoes away (i.e., our daughters got just a few dozen bites), but the flies were merciless, and undisturbed by mild breezes. But enough about bugs. The trail is fine, although steep in the middle and partly eroded in places. The lake is beautiful, with rocks and a logjam that the kids explored endlessly, and great swimming. There were ripe huckleberries intermittently all along the trail, from near the trailhead up to Heather Lake and even Glasses Lake above. We had the campsite to ourselves on Thursday and Friday nights, although there were several day hikers each day and two backpacking parties arrived Saturday. There's a delightful wooden toilet at the campsite. A dayhike from Heather Lake to Glasses Lake took about an hour each way; there's a trail all the way, although in many places it's overgrown and you have to bushwhack a little. Follow the trail clockwise around Heather Lake until the inlet stream; the trail up to Glasses from there is marked with orange and pink ribbons for about 2/3 of the way, until you pass a meadow and begin the final steep climb (for which I strongly recommend hiking boots, and poles if you got 'em). Beyond that point, the ribbons disappear, but the trail is easy to follow.