Hears Different Drummer

Friday, August 26, 2016

Ptarmigan Ridge and the Portals

Would this be the year that I actually make it all the way to the Portals? After our backpacking trip this week we decided to do a good, long day hike today. We had tried to get to the Portals last year and nearly made it, but turned around just short of going up the last stretch. You can read about that trip HERE.

We got an early start today, leaving our house at 7:30 this morning. We left the parking lot for the trail by 9am. It was a beautiful, clear sky day for hiking.

The wildflowers were still plentiful.

We were surprised by how many snow fields we had to cross today. The snow was soft and the footing was good, so no issues crossing them.

We saw many goats today, 9 along the trail towards the Chain lakes/Ptarmigan ridge junction. Then we saw around 30 near the little lake along the Ptarmigan ridge trail.

The photo below shows our destination. The Portals are on the right below Mt. Baker.

A closer photo of the Portals. We would be hiking to the left one. Right to the end,

but first another snow field crossing.

and about a 1/2 mile up to the top.

Walking along the spine of the Portal trail.

Mt. Baker

Looking at the Portals.

Our proud moments on the top.

At the Portal

A perfect day, I will always remember.

Endomondo stats:

total miles hiked - 12 miles

minimum altitude - 5006 feet

maximum altitude - 6472 feet

total ascent - 2503 feet

total descent - 2694 feet

Watson lakes backpack trip

Tuesday morning we drove to Watson Lakes to begin a 3 day - 2 night backpacking trip. It's about a 10 1/2 miles drive from the Baker lake dam. The gravel road climbs all the way to the trail head with magnificent views of Mt. Baker along the way.

We arrived and as we began to take our packs out of the Van I noticed our front right tire was flat. :-(

So a quick tire change before we could head out on the trail.

Ready!

I had weighed my pack before we left and it was 40 lbs. (I don't know how much my husband's weighed, but it was much heavier than mine.) A good amount for our first "mountain" trail backpacking trip in many years.

I've been to Watson lake only once before with the Trailblazer group that I hike with. You can read about that days hike HERE.

I "love" boardwalk trails and this trail doesn't disappoint. There are several sections with them.

The first of the two lakes in the photo below. It's about a two mile hike into the first lake and another 1/2 mile to the second one. We planned on camping at the second one.

The second lake in the photo below. When I had hiked there with the Senior Trailblazers last year I had spied a campsite that I really thought we would enjoy if we ever went camping there. I was anxious to see if it was available.

I was so pleased that it was available. We set up our tent and made our camp cozy.

Then it was time for a swim!

The first night we enjoyed a small sunset in "our" lake.

The heart rock in the photo below was in the ground at our campsite. An omen, perhaps. This is our 45th wedding anniversary week. We had a plan to backpack and hike for the week. Just doing things we enjoy together. If you look at the way the dirt was deposited in the heart stone you can see that there is a tent in the indention. <3

My perch for reading, drawing and doing Sudoku in our downtime.

The second day we did a day hike to Anderson Lake. We passed the trail junction on our way to Watson lakes. It was a short hike from the junction marker. It only took us about 15 minutes to get down to the Lake and meadow.