Mt Adams.
From there we crossed a couple of beautiful, fall colored meadows before getting to Cultus Lake. We took a short detour to hike down to Deep Lake to take some pictures before heading back up to Cultus. Normally this is a great stop for lunch but since we started our hike a bit earlier in the morning, we decided to continue and stop at the base of Lemei Rock for lunch. The hike to Lemei was very pretty as well as we passed numerous berry fields all turning to red. The colors were just fantastic and the berries very sweet and plentiful. Once we got to Lemei Rock, we decided to climb to the top for the great views. The climb is mostly a scramble over loose rocks and quite steep terrain but easily doable. Once we got to the top though, we were almost blown away by the strong, cold winds up there. Still it was very well worth it as we got clear views of Mt St Helens, Mt Adams and several lakes in the basin below us. After a short while and once we got cold enough, we climbed down back to our packs for a nice lunch under the sun. Shortly after that, we continued our hike doing a bit of bushwhacking thru a meadow until we got to the crater rim that overlooks Wapiki Lake. The lake looked as pretty as always although I noticed that the water level was a lot lower than what I’ve seen in the past.
Wapiki Lake from the crater rim
The hike down to the lake was as grueling as always and we were a bit disappointed when we found almost all campsites already taken. The only place big enough for all of us was a central, kind of in the middle campsite which ended up not being as bad as we thought. We spent the rest of the day collecting wood, setting up camp, starting a fire quite early as wind was making it rather cold and just enjoying our time. The wind kept up until about 11PM when it died out so the night was pretty quiet. On Sunday, we woke up to a magnificent yellow sun illuminating the west side of the crater. I got up early and went for a short walk to take some pictures before getting back to camp form breakfast. Since the morning was bit cold, we decided to stay at camp a little longer while the day warmed up.
Nancy taking a nap in the hammock
We then started our hike back up to the rim. As it was early and I was full of energy, I decided to do a “power pace” which took me to the top of the rim quite fast so I got the hard part of the day out quickly. From there we hiked down on the same trail back towards Cultus Lake making several stops for Huckleberries and treats. Once back at Cultus Lake, I offered my fellow hikers two possibilities to continue. One was the hike to the PCT heading South and going around Bird Mountain, over a saddle and back to the trailhead which includes a very steep downhill that can be very heavy on the knees or a much easier hike to the PCT heading North and passing by Clear, Dear, Bear Lakes before ending at Elk Lake. The decision was unanimous, the lakes. So we did that hike thru a heavy forested area with beautiful glimpses of the four major lakes in Indian Heaven and finally we got to Elk Lake where we stopped for lunch.
View from our lunch spot at Elk Lake
After lunch, we started our hike which pretty much followed the same path we had taken, so we went by all the four lakes to Cultus Lake and then down from there back to the car. I think we were truly lucky with the great weather we had considering we’re already in the fall and it should be rainy and cold.
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