Rainy Pass to Stevens Pass, 1979, page 5

Wednesday, Day 4
September 19, 1979
2:03 PM, Lyman Lake

Bonanaza Peak from upper Lyman lakes

I roused myself at 7 AM and trotted off with a daypack to take a look at the upper basin. Holy crap, it's beautiful!

There are supposed to be two lakes up there but the water is so low that there are currently four. It's funny, these upper lakes are just as milky in color as is main Lyman Lake below, but they have wonderful pure little streams feeding into them. They uppermost of the two feeds directly from a small glacier at the base of Chiwawa Mountain. The entire upper basin shows extensive signs of prolonged glaciation.

I snapped a few photos and headed back to my little forest camp nestled under North Star Mountain. I'm only four days into this trip and with all the things I've seen already, I sure wish I had brought more film.

Clouds keep coming in from the south over Glacier Peak, but they break up just as soon as they get over Suiattle Pass. Most of them seem to be funneling east of Chiwawa. It's actually pretty fascinating to watch them form, break up and then reform. It is still warm and dry, but I suspect my luck with the weather won't hold out forever, despite what the guy down at Cabin Creek said.. I keep thinking about how hard it rained just before my ride let me off at the trailhead.

Lyman Lake from near the outlet stream

As I return from the upper heights around noonish, I met with a party coming up from Holden on their way to Stehekin. They, too, were planning a side trip to image Lake. We exchange the normal social niceties and they went on their way. I spent most of the afternoon lounging about and reading. Now I'm really quite bored. I toyed briefly with the notion of packing up and heading out, but two things convinced me to stay here one more night.

One – my body is very tired and sore.

Two – the clouds keep missing me here, at least so far.

– Keep reading.