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My son James and I went on our (mine) much anticipated overnight hiking trip to Trap Lake in the Alpine Wilderness. The trailhead is located just before you reach Stevens Pass, at the hairpin turn.

We got a bit of a late start, arriving at the trailhead at 11am. First stop, Hope Lake and a lunch break. Hope Lake is more like a pond, and is a mile and a half up the Tunnel Creek Trail. And I do mean “up”. The trail is relentless, climbing from the word “go”. Around 1,200 feet of steady elevation gain. I do not like this trail. There is nothing redeeming about it other than it gets you to places more interesting. By the time we reached the lake we were sweated through our shirts. The bugs this year are pretty intense and James and I doused ourselves in a thick coating of bug juice, which helped. We took a break, ate lunch, and I fished the lake. The brook trout were feeding on floating bugs so I used a float bulb with a dry fly tied on (royal coachman). I caught a few small six inch trout.

Refreshed, we began the part of the hike that I have found memories of. I last visited Trap Lake in the late eighties and did great on lots of nice sized cutthroat. One part of the hike I fondly remembered was a beautiful walk along open vistas of the valley and mountains across from the trail. The trail reaches over 5,000 feet so we still had another 600 or so feet to traverse. This was done in fits and spurts. I do not like hiking with a full overnight pack in the heat of the day! That said, we persevered in the knowledge that the worst part of the hike was past us and the beautiful views in front.

The mountain flowers are in full bloom and some of those high elevation meadows are just amazing. I haven’t seen anything like it in quite a while. Each elevation hump we passed over I thought “the next will be the turn-off for Trap Lake”. Eventually we came to it, and descended down a couple hundred feet to the lake itself. My GPS (which never matches up with the guide books) said we ascended 2,238 feet, and traveled 7.45 miles. My guide book(s) said the hike would be 6 ½ miles to Trap, and about the same for elevation gain. In any case, we had the lake to ourselves. After finding a nice spot to set up camp (there are about four camping locations around this smaller lake) and dousing again with bug spray, we had a nice dehydrated dinner. Food sure tastes good when you’ve done a workout! James retired to the safety of the tent and some reading, and I headed down to the lake to see if the big cutthroats were interested in playing.

I started out with a float bulb and a leach, and also tried a tiny nymph fly. All I was catching was six inch cutthroat. Disappointed, I decided to prospect with a bigger lure and tied on a spinner (Fish Creek Spinner). Caught a couple small guys and then cast far out toward the middle of the lake. I felt the fish hit immediately and knew it was what I came to the lake for. This fish was a solid 12 inch trout and gave me a good fight. Pictures taken, he was safely released. I worked my way around the lake. Trap Lake is unique in that it is possible to walk all the way around the lake. Depending on how fast you go, figure an hour and a half. You need to be careful as one slip will leave you with a twisted ankle, gashed knee, or worse. I managed to catch another quality fish, maybe a tad smaller, and lost a couple that felt pretty solid. Overall, it wasn’t near as good as that memorable day so many years ago, but it was a pleasant way to spend an evening, fishing on a secluded Alpine lake with no one around, watching the sun set, seeing the colors change on the peaks, and listening to the marmots and birds announce the end of the day.

The next morning I got up early and tried some more, but only managed a couple bumps and some follows from small guys. The big fish remained elusive.

James and I hiked back to our car in half the time it took to get there. Total hiking distance was 13.5 miles, elevation gain total 2,647 feet, high point 5,361 feet. Not sure why the discrepancy between first way of the trip and the return. In any case, a week from now the pain will be a distant memory and we’ll be ready for our next adventure!

Bobberdownchromer

8/5/2013 7:09:00 PM

Nice fish! What a beautiful lake. Have you tried fishing hidden lake right by lake wenatchee? The lake is a pretty short hike plus there is some nice rainbow and brook trout in there.

BentRod

8/5/2013 7:28:00 PM

Great report and sounds like a great trip with your son Mike. Thanks for sharing. Regarding the elevation discrepancy via your GPS, most hand held GPS units use barometric pressure to determine elevation change. Since barometric pressure is ever changing it will alter your GPS accuracy. Great pics!

Mike Carey

8/5/2013 8:27:00 PM

I'll have to check Hidden out. Thanks for the barometric explanation.

RiverChromeGS

8/5/2013 9:23:00 PM

Mike, that one smaller one looks like a brook trout! Sweet fish!

Mike Carey

8/6/2013 6:40:00 AM

yes, the smaller one is from Hope Lake, and larger cutthroat is from Trap Lake.

MotoBoat

8/6/2013 9:51:00 AM

That Brooky is one colorful fish! Been a long time since catching one for me. Forgotten how uniquely they look in there natural colors.

That is a special outing, between father and son. Especially, when common interests and different ones overlap during an outing. But they make it work. Such as the hiking, that is a common interest. While fishing, for James........not so much.........so he reads while dad fishes.

There is a certain selfishness to be compromised, and consideration for another's interests. For that trip to work.

Mike, must have been hard to get up early the next morning, after a long hike like that? Lot's of sore muscles!

Mike Carey

8/6/2013 6:28:00 PM

oh ya, ibuprofen is my friend. Plus, first day back to work after two weeks off so you know how that goes. James originally wanted to hike up with his guitar. I told him that would not be a good idea, so the books were music theory. He's self-taught, very motivated.

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