Indian Heaven Backpacking Adventure Day 3

Day 3

• 4.14 miles
• 2 hours hiking time
• Camped at Clear Lake 4910′ elevation

After a good night’s sleep at Lake Wapiki, the scouts (and leaders) were a bit apprehensive about hiking back up the steep hill we came down the day before!

Ready for our Toughest Day of Hiking

We decided to split up into a more aggressive group and a more leisurely group so the faster scouts wouldn’t get too bored.

We headed up the hill and took two short breaks on the way.  Everyoneagreed that the climb wasn’t as bad as they expected!  We got to the top and stopped at Lemei Rock as promised.  We did a little rock climbing and got up out of the trees for spectacular views of Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams.

At Lemei Rock with Mt. Adams on the Right, Mt. Rainier on the Left

Mt. St. Helens

We didn’t have to wait long before everyone was back together.  We headed over Lemei Pass and back down in elevation.  We headed south when we came back to the main trail and were at our next lake before we knew it.  There was a camp site right where we came into view of Clear Lake but the scouts wanted to look around the lake to see if there might be a better site with more room so we began our circumnavigation of the lake.  That might have been a mistake!

Clear Lake Through the Trees

We had to do some trailblazing along a steep, rarely traveled area around the lake.  There were plenty of scratched and scraped legs and arms as we made our way through the brush.  We got to the south end of the lake and it would have been a nice spot but it was muddy and mushy with snowmelt drainage.  We slowly made our way around the lake, adding about a mile to our day’s hike and ended up back at the original camp site!

Clear Lake

We  quickly put up our tents in the beautiful sunshine and headed for the water!

Clear Lake Camp

Clear Lake Camp Site

We swam, climbed up the rock slide, ate lunch, did some fishing and more at Clear Lake.  We worked on merit badges and some of the more adventurous scouts practiced throwing a hatchet at dead trees.

Rock Slide at Camp

Austin's Cutthroat Trout

Hatchet Throwing

Clear Lake Campfire

Duty to God Presentations at Clear Lake Campfire

We had another devotional campfire with those who didn’t share the first night doing their Duty to God presentations.  Then, it was down and out for a tired group of boy scouts after some moon sketching and star gazing.