Salmon La Sac- Lake Wenatchee Area

Salmon La Sac

Ashley and I have an agreement. She plans and organizes our route such that I don’t have to think about where and when we go and she does not have to drive when we are towing the trailer. She has planned out our first month and a half of traveling making reservations for each night along our predetermined route. Our goal is mountain biking, hiking and freshwater swimming. Oh and NO DESERTS! We want trees, lots and lots of trees and preferably some elevation so we can prepare our lungs for our eventual destination of Moab Utah for September and October. Salmon La Sac is a very small town about 100ish miles east of Seattle WA. It is on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains. I forgot to mention something pretty important. I really dislike driving or riding in a car for long periods of time. So another part of Ashley and I’s agreement is that I never have to drive more than 4 hours at a time so she planned each of our stops accordingly. The drive to Salmon La Sac took about 3 and a half hour (well done Ashley) and it was through the beautiful Cascade Mountains. We set up our first camp in a secluded little spot near a river. Victoria and Alexander road their bikes around the small campground and played in the forest as Ashley and I enjoyed the beautiful sights, sounds and smells of our first night in this forest environment. Over the next few days we played in the river, attempted a few mountain bike trails, and went on our first hike to a stunning alpine lake. The hike was 8.8 miles of climbing through the forests. We reached an elevation of 5600 feet which for these 4 who have been living at sea level (exactly in fact) was quite a change in oxygen levels. We pushed through being winded with each step and made our way through emerald green meadows, over babbling creeks and across large boulder fields. As we worked our way to the ridge before the lake we came across small fields of snow. I am not sure who had more fun rolling in the snow, Alexander, Victoria or Ranger. As we crested the ridge the lake came into view and we were all amazed by the brilliant shades of blues from the water. The kids had amazing attitudes all the way up to the lake and all the way back to the trailhead. The entire walk back they talked about the blues of the lake and the fun they had sliding and rolling in the snow. At the end of the hike was a large section of river that made a perfect, albeit freezing cold, pool of calm water. We were all covered in 3 days of camping and 8.8 miles of hiking dust, sweat and grime. So we all sucked it up and jumped into the water to rinse off. Alexander said it gave him brain freeze by just dunking his head under water for a moment. It was probably in the low 50 degrees so it was definitely very, very cold, but it did feel refreshing to rinse off the sweat from the long hike not to mention at least two of us enjoyed the ice bath for our old, aching muscles.