Boulder Lake

Our Route

Boulder Lake sits at 4,900′ below Hurricane Peak in the North Cascades. Situated NE of Darrington, WA.

When I was first invited to this hike I had a hard time finding information about it. Searching online kept bringing me to a Boulder Lake in the Olympics. I was able to find a few entries about it on WTA.ORG. However when trying to find a map of the trail online or on paper I failed. From what I understand the main road to the trail suffered a washout and until recently had been closed.

Boulder Lake

This is a steep hike. The destination is well worth it. After the first mile following the remains of an old road you start to ascend, and ascend. You gain 2,000′ in just under 3 miles. The trail becomes hard to follow in some places, and takes you over boulder fields (watch for trail markers to help you get across). The last scramble up a 400′ tall scree brings you to an alpine lake view that is breath taking.

Here is my Gaia GPS tracks from the trip, including a slideshow.

The Meals

For this trip I took along my trusty 25 year old Backpackers Pantry Outback Oven – 8″ Ultra-Light and made two treats. Friday night after a long day of hiking, I baked brownies after dinner. However since we arrived so late and everyone was tired, it was dark and half our party went to bed before they were finished. Just how do you keep fresh baked brownies ate camp site until morning and not attract critters? I ran the risk and just put a large rock on top of the oven to keep anything smaller than a bear out of it. The leftovers survived the night just fine.

Fresh baked bread

The next day I made a fresh white bread round. To go with it I brought a couple of small tubes, one with olive oil, the other with balsamic vinegar for dipping. With eight people, it did not last long.

Saturday a single trout was caught. Kendra fried it up and shared. Everyone had a bite along with their dinner.

Sunday morning was simply the best breakfast I have had in a long time. I made a double tall latte with my trail espresso maker, and with my cup of quick oats and milk I had fresh blueberries that Corrine had picked. All the while having a wonder view of the lake that was so still it was like a mirror.

Of course I had to make a movie too. Gallery of photos at the end of this post.