Soldier Lakes

Man I hate it when I have to admit I was wrong! Chuck was right. The backpacking trip WAS under 8500 feet in elevation, and I DID indeed do just fine. I was worried that I would have some sort of "episode" but other than getting hot (and that wasn't too big a surprise as it was probably in the high 80's) and having to stop to catch my breath on the uphill stretches I did really well! We arrived at the trail head right about noon and got ready to go. We arrived at 1st Leuitenent( I know that's not how you spell that...) lake around 3:30 and started to set up camp on the far side of the lake.The campsite was really nice with two little streams that ran on either side of it so we had the gentle sounds of babbling water to lull us to sleep. There was a nice firepit, but as there are no fires allowed it wasn't much use. Someone had set up several really nice rock stacks that worked really well for our little backpack stoves though. There were fish in the lake as evidenced not only by frequent signs of jumping but lots of sightings right in the water. Soliel (the dog), spent hours right at the edge of the lake and in the water watching them. I particularily liked the intense blue dragonflies that were maneuvering all over the place. I got some nice photos of the fish but only one so-so photo of a dragonfly.

We spent the day Saturday hiking to 9 lakes in the vicinity, ranging from Private Lake to General Lake, with all sorts of other officer lakes in between. Our two favorite lakes were Captain and Cutthroat (I don't think that Cutthroat is a military reference but then...?) Some of the lakes were really close taking only about 10 to 15 minutes to get from one to another. Others took a bit longer. We hiked just under 7 miles total, round trip which wasn't too bad for some old fogeys on a hot day. There were fish jumping in all the lakes and we were wishing we had actually brought gear to take advantage of their numbers. Though not being able to have a fire to fry them up was a definite drawback.

Last year there was a fire that swept though most of the trail and mountains that we walked through. It was interesting to see how it affected some areas and others not so much. A few areas felt like something out of Lord of the Rings with total blackened ground, charred trees and sterilized ground - desolate. Other areas would have strips of fire interspersed with green areas. It was incredible to see some of the green undergrowth that had already sprung up this year in the wake of the fire. It was pretty sobering all in all. It would be interesting to go back in 5 and then again in 10 years to see how things have changed.

We did a little more exploring on Sunday morning and then went back to break camp and head out. There were several of the lakes that we had dropped into on the way in and having to hike back up and out after two days of hot hiking was pretty tiring. But, we still made pretty good time and arrived back at the cars a bit after 4pm. We drove back to the Autenreith's cabin where they graciously prepared us a lovely grilled salmon dinner, after a nice hot shower. It was heavenly. A perfect way to end a great trip.

Oh yeah, the picture above is the view from our campsite.