Melakwa Lake Trail Review

The wife and kids were out of town over a weekend last week. This is a rare thing, to not have any family responsibilities. I knew exactly what I want to do with out even having to put much thought into it. Solo backpacking trip. Don’t get me wrong. I love doing things with my family, but when you are backpacking with a 8 and 5 year old, your options are limited. So I looked over my options and decided on a lake near Snoqualmie Pass called Melakwa lake. The trail starts near the Denny Creek Campground and winds under I-90 and passes a couple nice waterfalls. 

The first mile or so to Keekwulee Falls is easy trail. A hiking friend of mine once described a trail as “the kind where you get people in flip-flops, carrying tiny dogs in purses.” I literally saw both of those things on this stretch of the trail. The falls are a nice series of cascades flowing over smooth granite. You can climb all around them and enjoy the water, and makes a nice accessible spot for families with small kids. 

After that the crowd thins out and the more serious hikers continue. The second waterfall is called Horseshoe Falls. It’s beautiful, but as accessible as the first. 

The trail gets steeper, rockier and more demanding from there. The next few miles feel longer than they are as you climb up through Hemlock Pass. As a consolation, the trail was lined with huckleberries, thimbleberries and salmon berries. I probably took more breaks that I really needed to just to pillage a huckleberry bush that was particularly loaded. 

The last half mile is down hill into the lake basin. The lakes are not large, but they are beautiful. They are surrounded on all sides by tall jagged peaks and rugged scree fields. While I was there I heard rocks tumbling down from the cliffs on at least 5 different occasions. The cliffs are literally crumbling down into the basin. It’s pretty awesome to be able to see and hear the geology changing around you. 

Melakwa Lake

The clear water was just the right temperature for a refreshing swim. It felt pretty good on my sore feet. I spent most of the time on the little lake. There were far fewer people there and I liked the view better anyway. 

Little Melakwa Lake

I did a little fishing while I was there. It wasn’t very productive during the afternoon, but started to pick up in the evening. They started to strike pretty regularly. I hooked a couple and managed to land a feisty rainbow that was about 12” long, which was bigger than I was expecting from such a small lake. It gave me a chance to test out some of the gear I’ll be including in an upcoming fly fishing gear box. 

After about 6 pm the day hikers cleared out and the numbers at the lake went from around 60 to more like 15. There were about 6 groups that stayed the night. There were plenty of sites to accommodate everyone. My spot included a flat granite chunk right at chair height next to a table height chunk. Pretty great! In spite of the high numbers of people there the lakes were very clean and pretty close to man made garbage free. 

Fresh picked Huckleberry oatmeal.

New Product Launch: Know Your Knots Practice Rope Kit

Colter Co. is happy to announce the Know Your Knots Practice Rope Kit. The perfect, portable way to keep your knot tying skills fresh. The kit includes two 5' lengths of smooth quality climbing rope with a oiled tanned leather and brass utility strap, and a Know Your Knots bandana for reference. Throw it in your pack and practice around the campfire. Or on the bus. Or during a conference call (no one can see you over the phone.) Once you've mastered the 16 knots on the bandana you'll be able to tie your way out of just about any jam that comes your way. 

This makes a great gift for a new scout, as a rank advancement gift, or to the diehard outdoorsy person in your life. I do believe there's a father's day coming up... Just saying

You can buy it here. 

Bandana Use #147: Water filter

The internet is full of tips and tricks and gadgets. Half of which make me wonder if they really work. Some I know for a fact do not work. So before I repost anything I like to make sure it's legit. One I've been wondering about for a while is this diagram I found of a water filter tower made from 3 bandanas, and layers of grass, sand and charcoal. 

On my last camping trip I decided to put it to the test. I did some modifications for my design. I wanted to limit it to one bandana, and simply layer the materials in that bandana. I did a base layer of sand, then rocks, then dry grass. MAJOR FUNCTIONALITY NOTE!!! This type of filter is NOT meant to make water safe to drink. It does not remove any kind of pathogens, or water born illness. It is meant to remove sediment making it easier to prepare for boiling or some other form of treatment. 

I started by making a 4 sided "quadpod". I make this the same way I would a tripod, but with an extra pole (for those really bad at math). Start with 4 equal length branches. 

Tie a clove hitch around the first branch. Then weave the rope over and under the other branches. When you get the end, weave the rope back the other way. Do this 3-4 times. You can simply wrap the rope around the outside of all the branches, but the weaving method creates better friction and will hold better.

After that wrap the rope between each of the branches vertically to cinch down on the weave and tighten the whole thing up. This is called frapping. Then finish off with another clove hitch. 

Then you can stand it up and space the branches apart. Tada! You've got a quadpod. This little structure has an endless list of uses. It can be used as the beginning of a shelter, or to hang a pot over a fire, as the starting point for a latrine or a dining table (don't get those two mixed up...). I could go on for ages.

To connect the bandana to the quadpod, I tied two half hitches around a small pebble in each corner of the bandana and tie the other end of each rope to a branch. 

I am using our Know Your Knots bandana for this one (it does feature the two knots used to create this contraption.) At this point I started filling the bandana with fine sand, then gravel and last a thick layer of dry grass. 

Next I grabbed some excessively gross water and poured it over the top of the grass. 

Here's a clip of the filter in action. You can see there's a major difference in the before and after!

The results were good. I found that I needed to run the water through a few times to get most of the sediment out, but it was certainly effective. If I were to do it again (and I probably will) I would make sure to wash the sand ahead of time. I think a lot of the first couple runs were just washing the soil from the sand out. A triple layered version of this would be more effective, but would also take more time to set up.

I would love to hear about your experiences with anything like this. 

-John

Tyler & Becca hike the PCT

The Pacific Crest Trail stretches from the border of Mexico in California to the border of Canada in Washington state covering a staggering 2,663 miles. It goes through some of the most beautiful places on the West Coast including the Sierras, Yosemite, John Muir Wilderness, Ansel Adams Wilderness, Mt. Shasta, Crater Lake, Three Sisters Wilderness, the Cascade range, Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainer, Mt. baker and more. I have had the chance to hike several sections of the trail through some of the most amazing and pristine wilderness I've witnessed. 

Tyler and Becca (friends of ours) are hiking it this year. All of it. I'm very excited for them and can't wait to hear about their trip and will try very hard not to let jealousy completely overcome me.  Before they begin I got the scoop on their plans and their gear list. 

Colter Co.: Why did you decide to hike the PCT?

Tyler: It has been something that we’ve wanted to do ever since we found out about it. We started really getting into backpacking about 4 years ago and it was something that we added to our bucket list. There was kind of a perfect storm of transitions going on in our lives so we decided that now may be as good a time as any. It was a now or maybe never sort of scenario.

CC: How long have you been planning for this?

T: We bought our plane tickets at the very beginning of the process and that was sometime at the end of last July. It’s been almost a 9-month planning process. We figured that it would be easier financially to spread things out over a longer time. It’s allowed us some opportunities for trial and error with gear and meal planning, so it’s worked out. We definitely don’t think that it requires that long of a planning period, but we’re doing this for two people with twice as much to think about. The bulk of our preparation really started about 3 or 4 months ago. At that point it was what we did every weekend and any other free time that we had.

CC: What do you think will be the biggest challenge?

T: We both think that at first the physical challenge of hiking in the heat will be the hardest. We’re not looking forward to the long stretches without water, especially with the low snow pack this year. After we get into a rhythm and start to get situated it’s going to be more of a mental challenge to do it day in and day out. The good thing about hiking together is that we’ll have a built in support system to keep each other going. We’d be more concerned about it if we were hiking alone.

CC:  Which parts of the trip are you looking forward to the most?

T: Definitely the Sierra’s. We’re both dreading the desert so it will be nice to see the transition into the higher elevation mountains. We ‘ve decided to hike Mt. Whitney as a side trip, so that will be a highlight as well. We both are really looking forward to overcoming challenges, meeting new people, and just experiencing the overall culture of the PCT.

CC:  What is your gear list? What is your base weight?

Becca’s base weight is 13 lbs. 6 oz.
Tyler’s base weight is 16 lbs. 2 oz.

Shared Gear: Zpack’s Hexamid Duplex Cuben Fiber Tent, Snow Peak 900 Titanium Cook Pot, alcohol stove, 7’x7’ Homemade Tarp (for shade and added rain protection), 50 feet of bear line w/ carabiner and bag, Instapark Mercury 10 solar panel, Deuce of Spades trowel.

Becca’s Gear: Mountain Hardwear Thruway 50L backpack, Feathered Friends Vireo Nano 20 degree quilt, Thermarest Neoair Women’s sleeping pad, Black Diamond Z-Poles, Outdoor Research Echo hat, Marmot Crystaline Rain Jacket, Patagonia Houdini Wind Jacket, REI Primaloft Jacket, Columbia Omniheat vest, Outdoor Research mittens, beanie, head buff, 3 hiking shirts, 2 pairs of leggings, 3 pairs of socks (2 hiking + 1 sleep), running shorts, 2 bras, underwear, sunglasses, toiletries, Ipod Nano, headphones, Sawyer Mini Water Filter w/ 1.5L and 2L Evernew water bags, REI Litecore Sit Pad, food cozy, Sea to Summit long spork, Bearvault 500 (in required areas), camp shoes, Dirty Girl gaiters, Sea to Summit but headnet, REI Ducksback pack cover.

Tyler’s Gear: Boreas Buttermilks 55L backpack, Enlightened Equipment Enigma 20 degree quilt, Thermarest Neoair ¾ length sleeping pad, Outdoor Research Sun Runner Hat, Outdoor Research Helium 2 rain jacket, Patagonia Houdini Wind Jacket, Patagonia down shirt, Patagonia Houdini pants, REI Sahara shorts, Smartwool beanie, bandana, gloves, 2 Outdoor Research Echo hiking shirts, 3 pairs of socks (2 hiking + 1 sleep), REI silk bottoms (sleep), underwear, Ipod shuffle, headphones, Sony NEX 7 camera w/ 16-50mm lens, Lowepro camera bag, Joby gorillapod tripod, Iphone 5, Sawyer Squeeze water filter w/ 1.5L and 2L Evernew water bags, Klymit Cush sit pad/pillow, food cozy, Sea to Summit long spork, toiletries, sunglasses, Penrod fishing pole w/ spinning and fly reel, fishing forceps, flies/lures, Lighter1 Big Daddy Bear Canister (in required areas), camp shoes, Dirty Girl gaiters, Sea to Summit bug headnet.

Shoes: We each have 4 pairs of shoes that we’ll have available to send to us as we need them.

Becca: Merrell All Out Fuse, Salomon SpeedCross 3 (two pairs), Salomon Fellraiser
Tyler: La Sportiva Helios, Salomon SpeedCross 3, Merrell All Out Fuse, Salomon XA Pro 3D

CC: What kinds of meals are you planning?

T: We’re really big into freezer bag cooking. All of our hot meals will involve boiling water and rehydrating foods in a Ziploc freezer bag. Over the years we’ve come up with a few recipes that we really like, but we’ve added some new ones also. For breakfasts we’ve planned for oatmeal with peanut butter, grits, chia seed pudding with fruit juice, Belvita breakfast bars and muffins (We’ve figured out how to bake with our cook pot). For lunch we have a combination of things like peanut butter and honey flatbread, tuna salad pitas, couscous with cranberries and tuna and homemade beef jerky. We’ll have a ton of snack foods as well including dried fruit, fruit leathers, flavored honey straws, Kind and Cliff bars, Cliff Shot Bloks, Gatorade and flavored lemonade drink mixes, and various candies like Sour Patch Kids, Sour Patch Watermelons (the best while hiking), Swedish Fish, and sour gummy worms. Dinners were definitely the most complex and we wanted to have a lot of variety so that we won’t get bored of our meals. We have basics like mac and cheese, spaghetti and alfredo, but some other interesting things too. We have chili with fritos, “Thanksgiving” with potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberries and chicken, beef tacos, creamy potato soup, Indian curry, Pad Thai, Pizza Ramen, potato burritos, creamy mushroom rice with chicken, Shepard’s pie, and even sushi rolls. It has been a ton of work and we’ve packaged everything on our own.

CC: What's the most important thing you've learned in preparing for this?

T: We’ve definitely learned the importance of food and good nutrition. With 20 miles/ day averages in some stretches it’s really critical that you replenish what your body is using. We’re glad that we did everything ourselves because we know where the products come from and what we’re eating. All of this ties into larger themes of preparation. We have learned a lot about budgeting for two people in the long term. So far we’ve accomplished the most when working together so that will be a critical aspect of our success on the trail.

CC:  What advice would you give to others thinking about going? If it’s something that you’re really passionate about you should just do it. There are a lot of hurdles to jump in order to be able to pull off a trip like this, but make it happen now. You never know what the future will bring and what your opportunity will look like then. Start planning early. Double and triple check everything you’re taking. There are a lot of great resources out there to see what others are carrying and the pros and cons of gear and meals. The key is to make it your own hike and not get caught up in that stuff too much. If you absolutely have to have a particular item (i.e. fishing gear for Tyler) then you’re justified in taking it as long as you’re willing to carry the extra weight.

Thanks you for sharing your experience and planning with us Tyler and Becca. Enjoy the journey.