Dagger Lake, North Cascades National Park

We headed off to the mountains this weekend for an overnight hike into the lovely North Cascades National Park. The forecast wasn't grand for Sunday, but we didn't care because it was gorgeous on Saturday! We grabbed a backcountry campsite map from the Park Service and just randomly picked a spot that sounded cool - Dagger Lake. Anything with a name like that is bound to be lovely.  We also liked the sounds of it because the backcountry camp site was just about 7 miles into the park, and then a mile beyond that was Twisp Pass. That meant we could ditch our heavy packs at the camp and jump on up to the Pass for great views. We were not disappointed.

This is a photo from Twisp Pass of Stiletto Peak and Dagger Lake (where we were camped).

 The hike started out along the Pacific Crest Trail and then turned east to head up toward Dagger Lake and Twisp Pass. Along the way we passed so many thimbleberry bushes that we didn't move very quickly. These were some of the largest and most yummy thimbleberries ever. Yeah! We spent most of the hike in the forest, which many backpackers dislike. We do not fall into that category. We love the plants, the big trees, the blueberry bushes that were turning into their fall red colors, and the mushrooms that poke up under the brush. We were also treated to many lovely views of mountains along the way thanks to avalanches! Avalanches clear large swaths of the forest, opening up the land to primary succession and long views of craggy peaks. And thimbleberries. Yum.

At the top of Twisp Pass we were treated to a new bird we had never seen before! Mountain chickadee!

Julie takes in the view of Stiletto Peak

At night when we were cozy in our sleeping bags we heard a loud rumbling that at first we thought was thunder. Then it got louder and I started to hear cracking sounds of trees falling. And loud noises of hard things hitting hard things. We soon realized that we were listening to a rock slide, probably on the other side of the basin we were camped in. A very humbling sound, no doubt. And a real reminder that we were in a wild place. While cooking dinner I heard another call of the wild - a thump and crack of something landing in the tree over us. This no-so-graceful whack was followed by some really lovely hooting. Soon, there were probably three owls hooting around us. Awesome.

The next day came with short intervals of rain, but high clouds that still gave us open views of the North Cascades. Here you can just make out Jay in the avalanche clearing.

The blueberry and huckleberry season wasn't the best this year. But the blueberry bushes get a 100% for awesome fall colors.

At the end of the hike, I passed off a homemade blueberry muffin to another hiker we had met on the trail. We got in our sweet car and drove off, in a downpour, to the other side of the mountains where we found some sun to cook our lunch in. I ended up having a conversation with folks in the parking lot that were feeding gray jays human food. I tried to make light of it saying "look at what human food does to US, imagine what it does to a tiny little bird". They were receptive to my gentle scolding and asked lots of questions. Why do so many people feel the need to feed our crappy food to wild animals? It drives me nuts.

Jay motivated me in the pouring rain to go mushrooming along Bacon Creek (odd name for a gorgeous spot) just outside of the park. We are ready for mushies! But it hasn't actually been that wet....and the downpour of the day wasn't likely to spring up chanterelles that fast! But we searched anyway and Jay found a few! Enough for a pizza.... and I found a new shroom called a lobster mushroom (it is bright red). It is a parasitic mushroom that grows off of other mushrooms and it is supposed to be very tasty - except a few other residents had already taken up the space inside this particular mushroom. I decided to leave it for them. Until next time!!