Jeff and I hiked to Upper Lena Lake on August 20-22, sort of on a whim. I say sort of
because Jeff had wanted to make this trip for a while. On the other hand, this specific trip was not planned more than about 2 days in advance, and I hadn’t yet found our hiking maps after the move. If I had looked more carefully and not trusted in Jeff’s memory, I might have been more careful about committing myself.
I don’t mean that there were any nasty surprises on the trail; there was just a lot of Up. It was almost more than I could bear. The trail’s about 7.5 miles, fairly gentle for the first half and then progressively steeper. One stretch involves scrambling up rocks, and towards the end there are some evil, steep and treacherous switchbacks up a sloping meadow. By the time we got to that point, I was just about ready to drop. (Ooooh, rocky trail, so comfortable…)
But the scenery at the top was worth it.
Sunday we bummed around and rested for the return journey. We took a short walk to Milk Lake in the morning, but eating and sleeping consumed most of the day. We saw a number of other hikers at the lake, most of them looking much fresher and more energetic than I, but I consoled myself that the majority of them were day-hiking from Lower Lena. Jeff and I had hiked from the trailhead with full packs. That’s nothing to sneeze at.
Jeff wanted to summit Mount Lena, but I called it off. I didn’t feel up to it myself, and I didn’t want him going off on his own. He agreed, reluctantly, but he is determined to go back.
My right knee had started paining me on Saturday afternoon, towards the end of our hike; ironically, my knee hurts more when descending, so I was not looking forward to the downhill trek. I hoped that resting up on Sunday would help, which it might have done, but I’m not sure. It didn’t stop hurting when I walked, but I did figure out that switching the stick to my left hand and going backwards occasionally were helpful tactics.
We broke camp very early on Monday and hiked downhill through the morning fog. I was tired and in pain through most of the outbound trip, but I kept going because there was no other choice. I had come in on my own two feet, and that was how I had to go out.
It should be no surprise to you that I slept through most of the car ride home.
Note 2.9.2005: I forgot to tell the funniest thing about our trip. As we took the upper fork to Upper Lena, behind us a man with a couple of boys stayed on the trail to Lower Lena Lake. One of the boys asked, Why aren’t we going to Upper Lena?
His father’s response: Because they’re tougher than we are.
(Ha, tell that to my knee.)
Kris says:
Beautiful pictures. I'm glad you posted about your move. With us getting ready to move to Washington I truly enjoy your "hiking journals". I wouldn't want to miss out. Thank you so much for posting about your trips and the great photos.
Grady McDonald says:
I hiked to Upper Lena with my dad in 1979. I was about 9 years old. It was really cool, but a little overwhelming as a little kid. Then I went back in 1992, 1997, 2000 with my friend. I've summitted Lena mountain during a thunder and lighting storm and almost got struck! I've seen a black bear in the basin and I've caught an insane amount of good sized trout. the summer of 97 the lake was completely melted and the first week of August was extremely hot and sunny. We went swimming every day. this lake is very special to me. So much as to have my ashes spread there one of these days. -Grady McDonald 3/5/06
Brett says:
Today my brother and I climbed all the way up to Upper Lena and back, on a whim, let me tell you that it would be much better to wait a few months for the snow to melt than to go now. There was snow I would guess 1/2 of the way up and boy was it pretty scary. It was a nice day out and we were in shorts, tennis shoes, and tank tops, with my 30lb backpack and over all ill prepared. The established trail is gone when snow is there and we ended up just following foot prints all the way to the FROZEN lake...dirty trick. Anyways I was pretty well convinced I never wanted to do that hike again until I saw your pictures, and now I am going to wait til August to give it a try, but I will probably make it a three day trip just because of how exausted I am now. I recongnized all of those vistas, and I now I want to see them as you pictured them instead of covered with snow.
Mark says:
My brother and i also went up to lena, prety much same conditions as Brett mentioned. We both went with two of our friends and had gotten off track in the middle of the night. Foolish but fun. we ended up camping and found the trail again the next morning and made a run for the lake. I am not a hiker and was not prepared for that kind of climbing or conditions, next time i will be. There will be a next time since the view is breathtaking and the experience is well worth it.