Lake Ingalls Day Hike
O H M Y G O S H
That is all I can really say about this hike as a whole. But let me start at the beginning of the day.
Its Monday. I had already written the day off as being pretty uneventful by the time I rolled out of bed at 0700. Only moments later I got a text about going on a last minute hike to see some larches. I almost opted to continue my hermit ways at home but I surprised myself and started getting my gear together.
We got to the trailhead around noon and the parking area was packed. I had read that this was a popular hike but I didn't expect that many people on a Monday. Don't y'all have jobs? But let's be honest I'm not one to talk.
The first three or so miles of the trail were very well maintained and mostly shaded by trees. Switchbacks allowed for the grade to be pretty easy as well. On our way up we were lucky enough to see Mt. Adams in the distance and Mt. Rainier pretty much looming over us from its place to the southwest. Once you get over the ridge, however, is when the real magic starts.
We were a little confused at the beginning why people had suggested this hike to see larches when the only ones we had seen were on the drive in. The moment we poked our heads over to the other side of the ridge we figured out why. T H E Y W E R E E V E R Y W H E R E ! !
I was freaking out.
It probably took us just as long to hike the last mile to the lake as it did to hike the first three and a little bit (uphill) solely because of the larches. I was running around like a maniac trying to take as many pictures as I could. At some point my camera stopped taking pictures and for some reason (probably because of my extremely excited state) I thought it was the battery so I whipped out my phone and started taking pictures on that. Not ideal but the best camera is the one you have on you.
Noelle told me she couldn’t see me for a while but she could hear me running around the campsites that are nestled in the larches. Next year this will be on my overnight bucket list. Who wouldn’t want the first thing they see in the morning to be larches?????? Someone who hates nice things. That’s who.
A little less than a mile to the lake I saw a huge group of hikers just standing on the trail looking at something.. G O A T S ! (at this point I took the time to figure out what was up with my camera and the memory card was just full. after deleting some pictures I was able to continue my shooting frenzy until the battery died a few minutes later) Noelle wanted to see larches and mountain goats on this hike and we saw both! I consider that a success. We almost decided to turn around before getting to the lake since we saw everything on our list and the sun had started setting behind the mountains. But we made it. Another success.
Heading up the trail we saw a couple of pairs hiking towards the lake but the majority of the people we passed were heading back towards their cars. By the time we got to the lake there were only a handful of people there and after about 10 minutes we had the lake to ourselves. We weren’t able to stay super long because of how long it took us to make it through what I called the larch field on the way to the lake and we still needed to hike out preferably before it got dark.
The hike back to the trailhead was much quicker than I had expected, especially without stopping to take pictures and going downhill instead of up. We got to see a wonderfully pink sunset and the moon rising above our heads. Though it was getting darker, we made it to the car with residual light illuminating the trail for us.
All in all, today was more than I could have hoped for in a Monday. My advice to my future self, or anyone else really, go on those last minute adventures. You won’t regret it.