Upper Pierce Lake—Aug 16-17

Time does not heal all wounds. The first time I tried for Upper Pierce Lake, I turned around because I lost the snow in the trail. Full disclosure: I could have kept searching, but I was exhausted. Last year, I reached the upper lake, determined as hell because I kept chanting variations of “I’m never fucking doing this again. It’s too fucking hard!” But as soon as I reached the top, I said “next year when I do this, I’m camping overnight.” So I did. It was still really fucking hard.

Not doing as much strength training this year, I definitely felt the uphill more, but then again, I was carrying a much heavier pack.

By the time I had made 3000 rest-stops, the sun was sinking as I made camp. The sketchy dock held to the shore by a short piece of rope on a log made the perfect camping spot!

I had the mountain all to myself! That’s the first time I’ve been so remote and removed. The closest was the Stein Valley last year when the next campers were about 2km away. I had the deluded impression that being on the dock somehow gave me more protection from the critters. And animals there were! Although I had a surprisingly sound sleep, I was woken up several times by bizarre animal noises. Seriously no clue what most of them were. One baby something crying, some possible coyote-like howls. Definitely one owl. No visitors on my dock.

Day two dawned with beautiful blue skies. The whole province is blanketed with horrendous wildfire smoke, worse than last year. Chilliwack isn’t as bad as other parts, but visibility has been low and brown, except for the 36 hours around my hike.

The lower lake is really swimmable. Cool, but refreshing. I would have spent hours there, but the sun was setting. The upper lake, not so much! I managed to stay in a little longer than last year, but only for boasting rights.

I climbed a little bit up Mt. Macfarlane, but I was pretty tired and I don’t trust myself to scramble. Maybe next time? Wait...what?