Camping at Elk Lake, October 27th

This trip was, as usual, a last minute plan. Knowing that the weather would be spectacular over the weekend, I was looking into possible places I could go camping. I did try to get a group together for it without much luck. By Friday everything was telling me I was going by myself. That afternoon Kristin emailed me telling me she was heading that night to Elk Lake on a two night stay. After thinking a bit and packing at high speed, I decided to wait until Saturday morning to leave. That ended being a good decision. Elk Lake is a place you can drive to, it also has “unimproved” campsites. This means there are some facilities but not all of them. It also means the road is not that accessible. On my way there, after about 20 miles of dirt road, I started to think I was in the wrong route. At that point I found a lake with no name that I was able to identify in the Topo map. Unluckily I didn’t take any photos there. Part was, well, because I was kind of lost. Anyway, after finding my bearings, I drove for about 15 minutes and finally got to Elk Lake and the camp site. The lake is beautiful, but I doubt that camping there in the summer would be a god idea. Being able to drive there, it must get pretty crowded. After a short rest, I set up my tent and then we decided to go on a day hike to Battle Ax Mountain. The trail is an arduous uphill climb to the top with view that open up as you climb. Probably the best part is the last three steps when you reach the top and a 360 panoramic view opens up. With a clear day like we had, we could clearly se Jefferson, Adams, Hood and St Helens. It was also very interesting to see another mountain where I was and say “I’ve been to that peak before”. It puts everything in a different perspective, and yes, it’s cool. After resting for a bit and eating, we started our descent on the other side of the mountain. On this side, the most amazing thing was to walk thru an area that probably remains in shadows most of the time. That area was covered with snow and all the small lakes where partially frozen. It looked almost magical. I will leave the pictures to talk for themselves. The rest of the trail was very nice and we ended back at camp with a nice dinner. That night was a bit cold but with no wind. We did think about doing another hike on Sunday but since we all woke up late, we didn’t. After a nice brunch that included eggs and toast, we tore down the camp and headed out back to civilization.

Camping at Elk Lake