Lake Diablo

Lake Diablo, Aug 26-28th, 2005

Fri - We camped at Colonial Creek Campgrounds just off milepost 130 along the the North Cascade Highway. I have to say that the North Cascades is an area that I keep going back to because of it's easy accessiblity, but not so easy as to make the area crowded a la Mount Si which seems to have become a long snaking line of people from bottom to top. The first night we got in we set up camp and KC cooked chicken apple sausages on the grill. My new favorite drink has been a lychee martini made with vodka, Soho lychee liquer and a splash of mandarin lime soda. A couple of lychee martinis later and I couldn't make anything longer than a 3 letter word in our game of travel Scrabble (maybe it wasn't the martinis?). After much worrying my friends' J and D finally arrived at camp sometime around 11pm, long after the sun had set.

Sat - After talking to a ranger at the visitor's center we decided to hike Maple Pass Loop. She said it was a beautiful hike that was manageable with only aquasocks. Poor KC had to endure the 6 mile round trip hike while feeling most of the ground beneath him after leaving his boots behind. Thanks for putting up with the pain! The trail had turnoffs for Lake Ann and Rainy Lake with gorgeous views the whole way since the hike started at >4000 ft and took us to about 6500ft. Lake Ann was visible below and to our left for most of the hike to the pass with numerous Cascade peaks. We stopped numerous times for photos and finally stopped for lunch after I promised for the hundredth time that we would stop just around the next bend. We enjoyed roast beef/avocado sandwiches with spicy salami and camembert on crackers while taking in the view.
After picking up firewood at the closest store in Newhalem - an interesting town that's run by Seattle City Light - we hopped into icy Lake Diablo. It wasn't the ideal temperature for swimming in, but felt refreshing and numbing at the same time. There's still some disagreement over who could take the cold better, but I'd have to say it was me ;) KC and I did a repeat jump into the lake the following day as a couple looked on and called us 'crazy kids' :) It's kind of reassuring to know that we aren't completely old yet.
Dinner consisted of grilled lamb burgers with avocados, camembert and muenster, grilled cherry tomatoes, zuchinni and peppers. I think it was one of those meals that I'll remember for awhile. After dinner we snuck off for a brief walk along the Thunder Creek trail which starts off just on the other side of Hwy 20 from the Colonial Creek Campgrounds. Although I don't know the actual history, this area looks like an avalanche/landslide came down and took out much of what used to be a campground. There's an overturned garbage disposal, a raging creek that passes over what could have been a road feeding into Lake Diablo and broken pieces of asphalt at the beginning of the trail before it veers off into the forest. We walked until we came across 3 deer who were grazing along the trail just after sunset. I didn't have a destination in mind when starting out on the walk, but this seemed like the perfect moment to turn back.
*sigh* Can't wait to go back next year!