Skye and I hiked into Heart & Pearl, and not quite to Dalton Lakes on Wednesday. It was 35 at the trailhead at 7:30, we left Hayden just after 4 am. I had already hiked into Heart Lake three weeks ago, but this time the snow was mostly gone. I sometimes deride Heart Lake because of all the traffic it receives; I've nicknamed it the "Priest Lake of the Great Burn" because it can be overrun on the weekends. However, Heart Lake offers some spectacular photo opportunities and Wednesday was no exception.
The lake was smooth as glass with a fabulous blue sky and great snow contrasts; some great pictures that morning. Crossing the outlet was a little tricky as the logs were wet and even had some frost. I met a young couple just after that who spent the night at Pearl Lake. I did see a goat along the way to Pearl but it didn't stick around for a photo. Pearl was also very calm and glassy, although most of the shoreline was pretty soggy. There was a large billy goat grazing nearby and he came over toward us. I didn't want him close to us with Skye so I hollored at him and he headed off to quieter places.
The climb up to the saddle was all on snow. I had hoped to either go to the stateline or hike down into Dalton, but I don't think I was fully recovered from being sick the previous week. I was pretty wiped out at this point and decided not to push myself to exhaustion. Dalton Lake was almost completely free of ice but a lot of snow still filled the shoreline. After this past week of nice weather that has probably changed considerably.
We met 2 more goats on one of the swichbacks below Pearl, they were about 20 feet away. Skye is pretty oblivious to other game, she doesn't bark or chase deer and the like. The goats and her had a little staring contest until I called to her and the goats took off. Even though Skye is a docile dog, I am cautious about goats as they can be dangerous to a dog. On the way out I met a gentleman with a raft/kayak, a backpacker with a dog, a couple on a day hike, a 4-H group of about 8 backpacking into Heart, and a couple other young guys heading out for a couple days. This was on a Wednesday. I actually thought that I might not see anyone, but no luck there. I was able to hand out a couple cards for the website and chat with everyone. Overall, I hiked 9-10 miles, saw a couple goats, had some great photo opportunities and saw 16 other hikers.
