Alpine Lakes Wilderness Photography Field Report from October 7-9, 2014.

Rich and I got the bad, not unexpected, outcome. Early October is prime time for the Washington State Enchantments, when golden larch skirt the stark, granite spires. Vying with a dozen hopefuls for the single, 7:45am permit draw─we lost. Our backup was Horseshoe Lake.

The Alpine Lakes Wilderness Enchantments are a pinnacle of Washington State backpacking. We gloried there in 2010. Since then interest in this core zone, always strong, has exploded. Permits awarded through a lottery system are difficult to attain.

Over the years, we’ve backpacked other Alpine Lakes permit zones: Stuart, Colchuck, Caroline. Horseshoe Lake is inside the Lake Stuart zone, but farther and higher. Instead of a 4.5 mile, 1700 ft jaunt up a maintained trail to lovely lakeside camps, Horseshoe adds two miles and 1300 ft of bushwhacking madness. On several Stuart zone trips, we pitched tents at Lake Stuart, were mesmerized by the surroundings, and never hiked past the lovely marshland to the west.

Intrigued by a topo map and Goggle Earth view, I researched Horseshoe a few weeks prior. The Lake and tarns, the subalpine larch and the elevation suggested a mini-Enchantments. I found good information from the Washington Trails Association website, but I didn’t find outstanding photos─only hints of what might be.

Lucky for us, nobody else wanted the Stuart zone opening. The crowd dispersed, we got our permit, and by 8:30am we were bouncing up washboard to the trailhead.

We had planned a three-night Enchantments outing. For Horseshoe, given its smaller area, we decided on two. At the trailhead we divvied up gear like the two-person tent, water filter, stove and food. For camera gear, I had my Canon 5D III, Canon 70-200 f4 and Rokinon 24 f1.4. I brought a 2x tele-converter. Rather odd choices, perhaps, with a gap between 24 and 70mm. Plus, a fixed 24mm is not very wide, but at f1.4 it’s great for night shooting. October nights are long. Gratuitously, a blood moon was expected the first night, so I wanted the reach with the 2x tele. I didn’t want to carry a third lens. Other camera essentials included my Oben CT-2331 tripod, Markin Q-ball Q3i ballhead, Tamrac 3330 Aero Zoom 30 camera case, wood panorama tool, polarizing filters, spare batteries, long lens plate and cleaning cloth. My pack weight totaled about 27 lbs., including 1 lb of water.

This trip took place in 2014, before the 2017 Jack Creek fire burned the steep hillside approach to Horseshoe Lake. The un-maintained trail now features many burned logs, ash, dirt and difficult route-finding. The last .6 mile packs all the vertical after rounding Lake Stuart, very steep. It’s like half an Aasgard (the high-elevation entrance to the Enchantments), which rises 2,000 ft in a mile. The scene when you arrive at the Lake, though, is enchanting. Horseshoe is convoluted like the Enchantments’s Leprechaun, encircled by larch. Good camps, too, especially one that juts, side right, into the Lake on a small isthmus.

Horseshoe Lake sunrises can be spectacular. Scout the Lake the day before. Nearby Jack Lake, shown on our topo, is now a meadow with a meandering stream, but, a bonus, the surrounding rock piles hide pika. Several unnamed tarns reflect Mt. Stuart; the best one is 700 ft southeast from central Horseshoe Lake.

We had a goat family of five trailing us, quite closely at times, sniffing for salt. It’s also possible to scramble up the ridge for panoramic views that include a distant Mt. Rainier. One shot I didn’t get was a sunrise from above the west end, a view that takes in Lake Stuart as well as Horseshoe.

Our lunar eclipse shoot was a bust, with haze producing a barely discernable red moon. Partly cloudy skies and warm days followed, with a colorful sunrise the last morning. So much opportunity. I used my 24mm lens to produce wider shots by shooting panoramas, mostly single-row horizontals with the camera oriented vertically, but a couple verticals as well. Almost all my goat shots were 24mm landscapes. Digital photography means thinking in the field, using the kit you have.

Happy trails,
Gary