Camping in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness

---

Call us crazy, but with all this prime outdoor real estate around here, it just made sense to go spend a few nights under canvas. We were also excited about spending some quality time with Mr. Henry the dog. So, we went to our friendly neighborhood camping outfitter and geared up! Although we plan to eventually do some real backwoods camping carrying everything on our backs, we decided to try the crawl, walk, run approach, so we are starting with car camping first.

Axel picked a campground in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness just East of the Pacific Crest Trail at an altitude of 3400 feet. The Wilderness is located in the Wenatchee National Forest which covers enormous swaths of western Washington State from Oregon to the Canadian border. We packed up Laurie’s Mazda with all our gear and 15 gallons of water and drove East on I-90 over Snoqualmie Pass. Just before reaching Cle Elum, we turned North into the Wenatchee National Forest. The last 11 miles to the campground were on a rough dirt road and Laurie’s poor car got a good scrapping a couple times! Henry is not a big fan of car rides, and this was easily one of the longest car rides of his short life at nearly 3 hours. Nevertheless, he seemed to resign himself to his fate and leaned against the seat back, his muzzle pointed upwards and laid flat against the seat back as if he wanted to melt into the seat.

We finally found our campground located on the shores of tiny Lake Tucqualla in a deep valley containing the headwaters of the Cle Elum river. It was about 6 pm so we did not have a lot of time to pitch camp and make ourselves dinner. Unfortunately, we ran into a slight delay in finding an adequate campsite as we found that some of our fellow campers were not particularly friendly. At the first site we picked, our proposed neighbors told us in no uncertain terms that we were not welcome, even resorting to aggressive language! Although the lack of civility impelled us to make a stand on principle, we decided that ultimately we did not want to spend two days living adjacent to these people.

Shaken from this experience, but determined to enjoy our weekend, we moved on and found a lovely site right on the shore of Lake Tucqualla. This is what they call a “primitive” campground in that there is no running water and only “vault” toilets for facilities (little more than latrines). We quickly set up our campsite and Axel started making a fire to provide warmth and light. As our first foray into camping together, this was to be our trial run, so we expected to learn a few things to improve upon later. Two lessons that we learned that first night were, 1.) we need a lantern, and 2.) we really ought to eat dinner while it is still daylight. Axel got a big fire going in about 15 minutes, but it really wasn’t enough light to cook by. We managed by flashlight though, and it was fun to rough it a little. Henry of course was in heaven. He was getting to eat, sleep and play with his favorite humans outside. As soon as he saw the water of the lake just a few yards from our campsite, he was in it in a flash, yelping and whining excitedly for daddy to throw a stick in for him to fetch. When he realized that we were busy with camp tasks, he came out of the water and busied himself following our every movement.

For those who have never camped in this part of the country, one of the biggest concerns of any camper is bears. In Washington State we have Black bears who, while much shyer than the larger Grizzlies, are also statistically more likely to attack humans. Campers are firmly urged by park authorities to take thorough precautions to protect themselves. Being dutiful campers, we had our bear spray and we were careful to bag our trash and foods and suspend both from trees out of reach of bears. We were even careful to place all our day clothing in the car rather than keep it in the tent during the night, since the smell of food gets into the fibers. That first night especially, we were all a little worried about bears. Even Henry seemed to take to staring off into the pitch darkness of the woods surrounding our campsite and growling at some unknown foe.

As soon as we opened the tent to go to bed, Henry scampered in and curled up on the top of Laurie’s sleeping bag, much to Axel’s chagrin as he saw all the dirt literally rain out of Henry’s fur (he’d been swimming in the pond after all). Henry soon realized that he would have to sleep near our feet if he didn’t want to be disturbed by our tossing. This did not last though. As the night progressed temperatures dropped dramatically and Henry, who was sleeping on Axel’s sleeping bag at his feet, started to shiver strong enough that he woke Axel up. Although we were really lucky that weekend weatherwise, with temperatures in the mid-80s during the day, it was in the low 50s at night. Unzipping his toasty sleeping bag, Axel coaxed Henry up between us and into the protective embrace of the bag. At this point, Henry did not need to be asked twice and burrowed his 70lb mass head first into Axel’s bag. He certainly did not seem to mind that we now had his “business” end in our faces. Rather, he seemed quite content to rest his cold muzzle in Axel’s crotch—undoubtedly it was especially warm AND smelled good to him down there…

On Saturday, we made a late breakfast which consisted of fluffy pancakes that Laurie cooked up in a frying pan over an open fire using some ready-made mix she’d brought along. While we had experienced virtually no pests during the night, the morning brought a swarm of big flies who seemed dead set on attacking our dog. Poor Henry became almost apoplectic over it. He spent much of the morning with his head turned back towards his hindquarters waiting to snap at flies trying to make passes on his behind. Eventually, he seemed at a loss as to what to do about it, alternately cowering underneath the car, running into the pond, and generally looking very put upon by the whole situation. We decided it was time to get the dog away from camp. We resolved to climb nearby Patty-go-easy Pass which stood at 6100 feet and offered spectacular views of Cathedral Rock (6724ft) to the North and 7467ft The Cradle to the East. After a hard climb, we culminated at around 4pm, having endured countless “gas attacks” from Mr. Henry whose tummy was apparently upset… Our descent was much quicker, and by the time we got back to camp we were hungry. As we busied ourselves with making a fire and cooking, Henry was content to sit by our chairs and watch, as if to say: “so, when are we going to bed already?” He was pooped. Axel felt dirty enough to hop into the frigid waters of Tucqualla Lake with a bar of soap to clean up. Despite his fatigue, this was too much for Henry to resist. He was positively bursting with excitement as he swam impatiently in circles around Axel waiting for a stick to be thrown!

As we watched another lovely dusk descend on the valley, we sat near our campfire and enjoyed a dinner of cheeseburger (for Axel) and baked beans. The only sound was the crackling of the wood fire and the distant hooting of several owls. As darkness fell, a mist settled on the valley so that only the tops of the fir trees across the lake could be made out in the darkness. By the time we finished with our s’mores it was getting decidedly chillier and we quickly did the dishes and then made for the tent. After meticulously cleaning Mr. Henry’s paws, he was allowed in the tent. Much like the previous night, Henry soon sought refuge under our sleeping bags, although this time he was more polite! Our initial bear neurosis calmed, coupled with our exhaustion from our active day, we slept much better this second night.

We woke to another gorgeous day and broke camp by 10 am. Henry was being attacked by flies again and looked miserable, so we packed the car back up as quickly as we could. Needless to say, when we opened the car door to let Henry in, he jumped in eagerly!

We loved our first outing and we are already planning our next one, maybe somewhere without bears…

---

Photos

Axel makes a fire...
...with Henry's help.

Please, please, please throw the stick!!!
A soaked Henry ready to play.

Dusk at camp.
Cle Elum river valley.

Maintaining sanitary conditions.
Axel likes his tent clean.

Little Blue Riding Hood
We try to protect Henry from the pesky flies.

Cle Elum river valley
Our camp is down there in the distance.

Mountain scenery
Cathedral Rock (6724ft) in front. Mount Daniel (7899ft) in the background with snow on its flanks.

Our campsite
Henry is pooped at the end of a long day of dog fun.

Breaking camp
Axel hangs the rain fly to dry.