Hub & Hazel Lakes: My plan for Tuesday, August 6 was to complete what I call the Ward Peak Loop. This would consist starting at the Hazel/Hub Trailhead (trail #262) in Ward Creek, hiking past Hazel & Hub Lakes connecting with trail #250 at the saddle between Eagle & Ward Peaks & hike this trail to the top of Ward Peak. From Ward Peak hike (no trail) down the main ridge of the peak to the Square Lake trailhead on stateline road #391, then pick up trail #262 a 1/4 mile down the road that will take you steeply back into Ward Creek and eventually to the Hazel/Hub trailhead. This would be around a 10 mile hike with quite a bit of elevation gain and loss for the day.
Unfortunately, the weather decided to have a say in getting the loop completed. I was just a bit below the intersection of trail #250 when the clouds started rolling in, starting thundering and hailing. That wasn't in the forecast that I saw for the day, but I have been caught in 6 plus hours of steady rain of "A chance of Mountain Showers" before.
Years ago our little climbing group got caught on a mountain during a lightning storm. We were climbing Reynolds Mountain in Glacier National Park on a cloudy overcast day; if you wait for a perfect day to climb in Glacier you won't get much done. We just made the flat summit ridge when we heard the first thunder clap. We didn't even go to the summit even though it was just hundred feet away. We hustled down, but by the time (10 minutes) we hit the upper talus slopes it was a mix of rain and hail with lightning strikes all around us. One of our party severly sprained his ankle the day before climbing down from Siyeh and sat out the climb at the Logan Pass Parking Lot. He was pretty impressed on how many visible strikes were on Reynolds.
So back to Ward Peak. I just didn't think it was wise to be on one of the highest peaks in the area during a thunderstorm. Of course, the sun came back out by the time I hiked back down to Hub Lake, but it did cloud back up and spit some rain by the time I got back to the truck. The trail sign that was hanging on the old tree by the trail at the junction of trial #262 & #280 had fallen off and was laying in the brush. I put it by the intersection on the ground.
Huckleberries & Bike Ride: On Thursday I did a morning of Huckleberry picking and on Friday I rode the motorcycle up the Coeur d'Alene River Road to the end of the pavement and back.
Dalton Lake: On Saturday I met up with my brother Kelly at Superior. We took 2 trucks as we left one at the Heart Lake trailhead and started the day at Hoodoo Pass. The plan was to hike across the stateline trail #738 to above Dalton Lake then down trail #151 to Dalton Lake and then out past Pearl and Heart Lakes to the Heart Lake trailhead. It was a very nice morning to hike across the stateline; we took our time stopping and taking some pictures getting to the saddle between Pearl and Dalton at around 1 pm. Kelly didn't want to go down to Dalton so he headed down to Pearl and out and I headed to Dalton.
I needed to be back to CDA around 6 as we had relatives staying and had dinner planned; I was cooking. I had to hustle along for the rest of the day. I headed down to the lake, Skye went for a swim, we had lunch and took a few pictures. I was back to the saddle in 35 minutes. Not much of a stay at the lake, but I find myself consistently running short of time even though I am retired. I think I have been to Dalton in excess of 20 times.
There was a family (7) of goats at Pearl Lake but they were the only wildlife that I saw that day. I met or saw around 25 people on the trail or at the lakes. In the end, I was only 10 minutes behind Kelly getting back to the trailhead, I have better knees for the downhill. There was a pretty good set of thunderstorms that we were just on the edge of for most of the afternoon, it wasn't until halfway down Trout Creek that it rained.
There has been some trail work done this summer on the trail to Heart Lake. Among some of the work; the old slick logs at the first creek crossing above the switchbacks has been replaced by a nice new bridge. Silly me just walked over them and didn't take a picture.
