Hike to Lake of the Woods

Katie and I decided to take advantage of the 3 day weekend over Memorial Day to backpack to Lake of the Woods. This was Finn's first backpacking trip, and a great first wilderness experience for him. We started out from the same trailhead as the Jorn Lake trip, but turned northeast by Marion Lake. The total distance of this trip was about 16.5 kilometers, since we strayed from the snow covered trail at times. This image shows a frosty Lake of the Woods.

The Start

As we left the Marion lake trailhead to The Lake of the Woods the trails were clear as far as we could see. About 1.2 kilometers in we came to the first swichtback that brings us up to Lake Ann. We came across several other hikers with fishing poles and other day hikers.

Marion Lake and Jack

Once we got to Marion Lake the sight of snow was a litte toubling as we looked up at the plateau above the lake. It looked like we were going to have to trek over the snowpack to reach the Lake of The Woods, which is fine and even makes some aspects of the hike more fun, but there are added dangers.

Finn Lake

Once we got to Finn's lake (an unmarked pooling of snow melt) the snowpack was more or less continues. From here on up to the lake contact with the trail as intermitent. Finn became quite useful throught this section, as he'd actually sniff out the trail and usually find it before we did.

John Swallow's Grave

As I was planning this trip I found that we would pass by the grave of John Swallow. The information I found about John Swallow grave was limited to the geograhpic location. At this location the trail split off to the right and would take you to the Pacific Creast Trail. We stayed right and continued on.

Trail Blazing

As we continued to trail blaze our own path we came across several dangers of the snowpack, tree wells, down trees under the snow and unseen creeks. All of these can melt the snow away from the soil first leaving thin crust of snow for you to step through. Finn also proved to be valuable here as he lead the way exposing thin tracks of ice.

Lake of The Woods

We finally made it to The Lake of The Woods with wet feet. Finn was exhausted, but still found enough energy to go bury sticks and romp around the snow near camp. Katie and I took this time to indulge ourselves with some adult beverages, enjoy the scenery and set up camp.