Photo Friday: White Cloud Mountains Backpack

The last couple of weeks I've been writing about the dayhikes of September. Today, we're strapping on the big packs and heading into the Cecil D. Andrus/White Clouds Wilderness, just across the road (as it were) from the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho.

I did this hike with my brother-in-law  Tom, of Photoseek.com, where you can find far better photos than I take (and buy them)! (No, I don't get a commission, but yes, I am willing to shamelessly promote friends and relations).

Day 1: A slow start

We deliberately took our time on this day, double-checking our packing and enjoying a glorious breakfast at the camper (big thanks to Carol for doing most of the cooking!), then lunch, before we began the hour's drive to the TH. The turn-off was only a few minutes down the road, but the Fourth of July Creek road runs a long, gravel/dirt way into the mountains to give hikers a good start on the good stuff.

Heading to Washington Lake, then on to Chamberlain Lakes

Signs and maps offered conflicting ideas of the distance to 4th of July Lake, but less than an hour later we were there. We originally planned to stop there, but that was when we believed it to be at least 3 miles in. Less than two would be my guess.

Patterson Peak above 4th of July Lake

It was only another mile or so on to Washington Lake (I do get the feeling whoever named things in here was present on the birthday of our nation), where we had plenty of time to seek out the perfect camp, a legal 200' from water, already established, and with two decent tent sites far enough apart not to have to listen to each other snoring.

Camp. We have matching TarpTent Protrail Li tents, at 18 oz. our secret weapon for backpacking as we age.

Though there mostly was too much breeze for good reflections, the lake and ridge (annoyingly unnamed on my map but no doubt dubbed something like Thomas Jefferson or John Hancock by the patriotic lake-namer) provided some good scenery as the sun got lower.

Stats: 3.3 miles, 805' climb with a modest drop to the lakeshore. 

Day 2: On to Chamberlain Basin

 Morning gave us the calm water we'd hoped for, though not quite as good light.

Eventually we got off. One thing about fall backpacks--you really have to give up on the idea of early starts. With the sun not up even on the peaks until well after 7, we were out doing photography until late, and  hit the trail sometime after 8:30, with frost still on the low bits of the meadows.

 

The day's hike would end about the same elevation we started, but first we had to drop a long way, then climb a bunch, then drop again... The trail drops alongside the ridge until it climbs around the end of it into the basin, for reasons that mostly made sense.

A portion of the climb was through a large burn, probably only a couple of years old. But there is beauty even in the charred trees if you look, and flowers already taking hold in the newly open areas.

Not long after lunch we topped the ridge, entered the Wilderness Area, and then a short distance farther on found out why the Chamberlain Basin is one of the more visited areas in this lightly used mountain range (note: there was no one at the upper lakes when we were there).

Castle Peak guards the entrance to the basin, on the left of the photo.

We took a short break at Lower Chamberlain Lake.

Tom shot me on the lakeshore, trying to look like an intrepid explorer.

The lower lake was pretty enough, with nice camps, that a person could think of stopping there. We did think about it, and just dayhiking the upper lakes, but since morning and evening provide the best light, we continued on to camp where we wanted to shoot. It proved a good decision.

The really castle-like part of the peak stands over the upper lakes.

We took a while to settle on a campsite, on the shores of what I'd call Lake 2, but found our best photography at Lake 3, a five-minute walk up the trail, and after an early dinner stayed out until the light was gone.

At some point in the photo frenzy I had to go back to camp, for a battery, most likely. On the way back I cut through the woods, and met a neighbor.

Red fox

Stats: 7 miles, 1370' up, 1260' down. Plus a lot of wandering around in search of the perfect photo.
 

Day 3: Back to the camper

We had a long day ahead of us, so didn't do as much morning photography as we might have. I was up early, though, and caught the light coming up on the lake.

Hiking back out, the view back the other way from the south end of the lake caught our eyes, with the morning still calm.

The hike out mirrored the hike in, only in one day.

Stats: a hair under 10 miles, 1450' up, 2150' down. Back at the car by 3 and off to showers and dinner at the camper.

Geeking about gear (bonus info for those who care):

I have worked very hard to lighten my pack over the years, and the more so since I became a solo hiker, as it were. For those who want to know, I mentioned the TarpTent Protrail above, a solid-enough shelter that uses my trekking poles as supports. I sleep under a down backpacking quilt (I have a couple, with different temperature ratings, but both weigh in also around 18 oz). My pad is a modified Thermarest NeoAir, an extra-large that a friend cut down for me to make a short and wide pad, better suited to my side-sleeping, at about 11 oz. I carry it all in a ULA Circuit, and depending on luxuries my base weight* is around 17 lbs, including just over a pound of camera gear. 

I treat water with either a gravity system using a Sawyer Mini, or with the Katahdyn BeFree.

I recently bought an extra luxury for short trips when food weight is low: an REI Flexlite Air Chair, which adds a level of comfort I can't get sitting on the ground or on logs.  I am also pretty much never to be found without a Kindle and a journal.

 *for the non-gear geek types who read on, base weight is everything except food and water.

 

©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2023

 As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated.

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