07/19/03:
I pulled a muscle in my upper hamstring somehow the other day. So, all I could do was explore the Wenatchee Lake area a little more and then leave. I've moved over to the Mount Index area now and just rested the leg. It feels a lot better now so we'll see what happens.
07/20/03 Hiking Lake Serene Trail(about 9 miles round trip):
The leg felt pretty good this morning so I went looking for the Silver Lake Trail. Actually, the guide book trailhead is on the other side of the mountains but I thought I might be able to come at it from this side. Well, maybe someone could but after 2 miles up a dirt bike road I ran into more rocks than my truck could handle.
The DeLorme Atlas shows 3 waterfalls at US-2 in Index so I thought I'd try to find access to them. What I found was a trail to one of them along with a trail to Lake Serene. The trailhead information was good enough to tell me the trail to Lake Serene is 2000 feet. Should I try it with my leg? Sure, why not? I can always turn back.
The first 1.5 miles is an easy incline. Then comes the turnoff to Bridal Veil Falls. I kept going thinking if I can't make it to Lake Serene I can always come back and do the 1/2 mile Bridal Veil Falls Trail. The trail turned upwards after that but was never too bad.
A new bridge and tons of wooden steps seem to be the result of the Northwest Forest Passes. The bridge I liked, the steps suck... big time!
Lots of views of the valley and slopes and ridges on the other side. It was overcast most of the day. I got to Lake Serene in about 3 hours. The lake is only about 1.5 acres but has sheer granite peaks rising directly up out of the lake close to 1000 feet with snow patches still in some of the ravines. Well worth the effort.
Two young women stripped down to bikinis and jumped right in the lake. That resulted in a lot of shrieking. Alpine lakes, created mostly from snow melt, are not noted for their warmth. They did feel quite refreshed, though... after they stopped shivering.
I stopped off at Bridal Veil Falls on the way back. The 1/2 mile was another 500 feet or so for me. There are actually 4 waterfalls here. I saw one on the way up to Lake Serene and this was a second one. It fell down a sheer granite wall 100-200 feet high in a veil like manner.