Surviving a Challenging Hike to Lake Ingalls

In June my brother contacted me and asked me if I wanted to go on a nine mile hike with him to Lake Ingalls. That seemed a very long hike for me, but I know I can easily walk five miles on the trails around here so I thought I would probably be able to manage a nine mile hike although I knew it would be a challenge.

My brother David is almost exactly a year older than I am. In his young adult life he was a pretty avid outdoors person. It wasn’t just hiking. He did the heavy duty mountain climbing as well as back packing trips. However, as he got older some of that dropped by the wayside, but he still enjoyed hiking with his kids and back packing. I, on the other hand, have done hiking in the mountains but only on well established, easy to follow trails and usually something less than five miles. Nine miles would be interesting.

My first challenge was getting up at 5:30 in the morning to be ready for my brother to pick me up at 6:00. If you know me, that’s extremely early for me. I think I managed about four hours of sleep.

The trailhead to Lake Ingalls is near Cle Elum, Washington. We needed a pass for national forest lands to park at the trailhead. That’s one of the areas of confusion when out in the mountains. Many recreational areas require passes. Knowing which pass one needs is important to figure out. We stopped at a coffee shop in Cle Elum to get the $5.00 pass, and then we were on our way.

The trailhead to Lake Ingalls was in a beautiful location. There were a number of towering peaks around us. This was a hike my brother had done before, but it had been a number of years, perhaps even forty years. While he thought it would be familiar, he knew some things had changed.

We started up the side of the mountain and very shortly came to a lovely creek flowing down the mountain side. The water tumbled over the various rocks and ridges, and it created a scenic moment along our trail.

As we continued up, the trail became a series of long switchbacks going back and forth across the side of the mountain. This was a wooded area so for the most part we were walking in shade with occasional breaks and mountain views.

As the trees began to thin out, we met a trio of hikers, a woman with her mother and son. They pointed out a rock pile and the pikas that were living among the rocks. Pikas are small mammals related to rabbits with cute round ears. There were two of them we could see. I had my long lens on so I was able to get nice close up shots.

I had my telephoto lens on because I had been taking photos of the wildflowers. The wildflowers were out, and they were beautiful. We saw them along almost the entire hike. My brother said the diversity was more than he had seen on a hike before. The photos below show only a small sampling of the flowers we saw. It also shows the various habitats from grassy meadows to rocky ledges.

We also had the opportunity to photograph small butterflies at an area where water was seeping down. They were all the same orange color.

We continued on the trail to Lake Ingalls going around the edge of the valley. Once we got above the tree line, the sun became an enemy. While the air was not particularly hot, the sun’s rays were so I began to perspire and was drinking more water.

As we continued to ascend the mountain, we could look back and see the mountains in the Cascade Range. We were even able to get a peek at the top of Mt. Rainier above the other mountains.

Eventually the trail led us to Ingalls Pass. We needed to go through the pass to the other side as that is where Lake Ingalls is. We also were now able to see Mt. Stuart. David said Mt. Stuart was the second tallest non-volcanic mountain in Washington.

There was a valley down below, but the trail led us around the top edge of the valley. There were patches of snow along the side of the mountain here. The biggest challenge for me was an area that was just large rocks. It looked like an avalanche of rocks had fallen over the trail. I could see the trail only because the rocks where people had walked were covered with a brown dust that distinguished them from the other rocks. I did not like crossing these rocks, but somehow I managed. From there the trail was much easier.

David had told me we might see mountain goats, and we did. As we reached a large rock that overlooked the valley and Mt. Stuart, a mountain goat appeared with a baby. The mother seemed unconcerned by our presence. She just kept eating away at the grass and moving towards us. Her fur was quite messy as it seemed she was halfway through shedding her winter coat. She probably came within ten feet of us. Her baby was much more wary and stayed behind its mother and stared at us. It was fun taking photos of them and hard to stop.

The trail to Lake Ingalls continued on through some beautiful green meadows, and we saw a few more mountain goats from a distance. Near the meadow was an area where campers had set up tents. They didn’t look too comfy. We also crossed over a stream. It looked like it might be a waterfall from the top, but it was just a stream flowing down the side of the mountain.

From here things took a turn for the worse. I started getting concerned because we were still not at our destination, but I was already partly through my second water bottle. I was also starting to feel tired. David said we had to scramble over another ridge to get to the lake. We saw young people coming down from the ridge like it was nothing. It was not so easy for me. It was a lot of large rocks again that we needed to get over, but eventually we made it and entered the basin of Lake Ingalls.

Lake Ingalls is a lovely small alpine lake. The water is clear and the mountains and cliff make a nice backdrop for the lake. However, there were two problems. One was there were bugs flying all over. I’m not sure they were mosquitos as I didn’t really get bitten, but they were annoying. More significantly, I didn’t feel well. I was feeling nauseated, a bit dizzy at times, and I was obviously becoming dehydrated. We were going to eat lunch there, but I couldn’t get enough saliva to swallow much food down.

I had about half a water bottle left. David had some electrolyte tablets with him so he gave me one to put in my water. I think that helped as the nausea and dizziness diminished, but I was still concerned about being dehydrated. I only ate a little so I wasn’t getting much energy from food. It was going to be a long hike back.

David noted that there was an alternate trail that went down through the valley which was green and had some streams flowing through it. He said we could go that way, but we would have to climb back up at the end to go through the pass. I didn’t want to hike back over the rock fields so I voted for the meadow. We did have to maneuver over rocks again to get back to the main trail, but I think it was an easier trail to follow until the final climb out of the valley.

We did stop and rest for a little bit here. It was hard to find a comfortable place in the shade. Finally I laid down by a log just to be off my feet for a while.

We than began the long trek back down the mountain. When we had come up the mountain, I would see a scene and think, I’ll take that shot on the way back down with a different lens. It didn’t work out that way. For one thing I was too tired. For another the sun had moved, and now the mountains I wanted to photograph were in shadow so the details were lost. I managed just a few photos, one with another peek of Mt. Rainier.

At this point the hike became a matter of will. David had given me a little of his water, but now we were all out. He didn’t want to risk drinking the water from the streams so we just had to move along. He had me lead as he said hiking etiquette said the slowest hiker sets the pace. Guess who that was! I was so tired. I wanted to quit, but that really wasn’t an option. A number of hikers passed us as we went down, but we just kept going at my slow, steady pace, one foot in front of the other.

I was listening for the sound of the creek at the bottom of the mountain as I knew that would mean we were almost there. A few times I thought I heard it only for the sound to fade away. I felt relief when we finally came to it, but I barely had the energy to react.

Back at the trail head we loaded up the car and headed out. It was about 8:30. We had been on this hike for around 12 hours. We headed to Cle Elum to find fluids. It was such a relief to finally drink something.

David texted me the next day to tell me that while the guide book said it was a nine mile hike, his Fitbit recorded 13 miles. No wonder I was so tired. I think the biggest challenge was the sun and dehydration. If I had been better hydrated, I’m sure I would have managed better.

David indicated that the next time we went hiking he would choose an easier trail. That is of course if I’m willing to go with him again. That remains to be seen.

What is the most challenging experience you have encountered as you have explored our world? I’d love to hear from you in the comment section below.

Credit: Pictures of me taken by David Lee