We spent the day on Friday hanging out in Mount Vernon and then left in the early afternoon for the national park. About an hour and a half drive east of town.
Bad news though. There were several large forest fires in the northwest section of the park. That coupled with the fires south of the park and the fires happening in Idaho made for a lot of smoke and haze.
We were driving along the road and the view, from what I heard, is supposed to be unbelievable. But all we could see were grey skies. We could barely see the hills in front of us. Now and then you would see a mountain if you were close enough.
It was cool and scary at the same time. As we continued on up the road the air quality got a bit better. But it was still pretty hazy at the campsite in Newhalem where we spent the next couple of days.
We had a lazy day on Saturday morning. The air quality was still bad. Our plan was to do a hike near the campsite at Diablo Lake but it just didn’t seem worth it considering the conditions. The visibility was non-existent and doing any strenuous exercise wouldn’t be a good idea.
We went over to the ranger station and spoke with them for a bit. The air quality was better by Washington Pass – about a 45-minute drive away. We made the trip even though it was going on one o’clock. If only to get a breath of fresh(er) air.
We got there and the air quality was noticeably better. It was still hazy but it didn’t seem so apocalyptic in this area. There were a few hikes available to us. We decided on the smaller walk to Rainy Lake. Trying to do the larger hike might have put us in an odd position because we were getting a late start. And I didn’t want to drive down that winding road in the dark.
The hike was really short and the path was paved the entire way. The lake was nice but there was only a small platform that didn’t come close to fitting everyone there comfortably.
There was a small trail leading off the platform and we took it a short way where we found a few logs to sit on and have some privacy. It didn’t really quench our thirst for adventure but it was better than sitting at the campsite in the smoke.
The next day we drove back to the same area and did the Maple Pass hike. The air quality wasn’t great still but good enough that we felt we could do the hike without any issues. The hike was about eight miles long and we climbed over two-thousand feet.
About three miles in you get to a flat area where you can take in the views of the nearby mountains and the glaciers. We had a snack here and rested a bit before continuing on to the high point of the hike. Still a bit of elevation gain from this point. The smoke caused Amanda some issues so we took a few more stops than normal. Which I was fine with.
The views from the top were quite stunning, even though the visibility was poor. You still got a good view of the lake in the valley and the mountain range beyond. We were hoping we would be able to climb above the haze but that didn’t really materialize. We had a rest and ate a sandwich and headed back down the mountain.
The hike was a proper loop and the second half of the hike was steep as all hell. Part of me was happy we decided to climb counterclockwise because the climb up this way would be pretty damn hard. But going down a steep hill isn’t much fun either. Pretty hard on the joints.
That evening I was hanging out in the hammock and reading my book. I picked up Cloud Atlas which I’m really enjoying thus far. I was very relaxed and was completely lost in my reading. Then all of a sudden I heard this shrieking sound. At first, I thought it was a human yelling in pain or horror.
There were some follow-up noises afterward and I realized then that it must have been an owl or some other type of bird. I was freaked out, to say the least. I ran back to the van and checked in with Amanda. Did you hear that? She was pretty shook as well. Felt bad for her. She was trying to meditate when it all happened.
All in all, it wasn’t what I imagined our trip to the park would look like. But that’s the thing out here, especially in the late summer. You can’t control when the weather changes or where the forest fires will occur.
We made the best of it and that’s all you can do. Of course, I was disappointed but I will be back here one day. The best way to explore this park is to properly backpack it anyway.