Backpacking to Lake Dorothy

I am trying to get the family backpacking at least once a summer now as I have so many fond memories of backpacking myself. However, due to incredibly buggy conditions, we probably should have just skipped it this summer. But, I wasn't ready to let this trip go, so here we are, getting ready for a hike to Lake Dorothy in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness on the west side of the Cascade Mountains.

 The trail is fairly gradual with really good stairs and boardwalks built in. It is a great distance for taking kids backpacking or hiking, just 1.7 miles to the lake.

 There is a beautiful creek crossing part way up the trail. We imagined how cool and refreshing it would feel to play in these pools.

 There was beautiful vegetation, too - all the way from skunk cabbage to these delicate ferns and trillium.

 

The kids did a fantastic job on the hike. However, we ended up with no campsite at the head of the lake, and had to keep hiking another two miles on the lake shore until we could find an open campsite. That long of a hike was a little more than we bargained for and we had a late start too - not even getting on the trail until 3:30 that afternoon. But we did it! And here is a wonderful view from our camp spot - it was cool to spot the snow on the highlands in the distance.

 

Due to the overwhelming amount of bugs, we spent most of our time inside our tent. It was actually kind of fun that way and we played a lot of games together.

 

Here is a little video montage of these photos that my camera put together.

 

 The next morning I finished up the lake shore trail to see if there were other campsites further down the way. When I saw that there were none unless you forded this large creek, I was thankful we'd gotten the spot we did.

 Charlotte was an excellent helper and pumped all our water.

 We hiked out Saturday morning and came across many families and groups heading in for the weekend.

 We drove straight from the trailhead to the cabin and enjoyed hitting the swimming hole to cool down after the hike. It was just our luck that the Adams Family was stopping there with their raft at the same time!

 

Here are Charlotte and Edison jumping off the rock at the swimming hole.