Wahtum Lake

Day 5, Wahtum Lake: 0 + 7.5 miles

What a joy it was to not have to pack camp! Ryan still did as he didn’t know if he’d finish his loop or not. If not, he’d camp somewhere and meet us the next day. Ryan left us and soon Karen and I were on our way for a day hike carrying only water, some snacks, and some minimal gear like cameras and first aid. We headed towards the car campground which is reached by a nasty set of steep stairs. Up there we saw a few car campers and I was glad our hike-in site was a good stroll from there.

We headed up the Anthill trail to a junction with the Herman Creek trail which Ryan was taking. Our plan though was to leave the main trails and hike up to Tomlike Mountain.

There is something of a trail to Tomlike Mt. but it is a user trail and not official thus is a little hard to follow, especially through some rocky areas. It is easy to see where you need to go so the trail isn’t really that important. This turned out to really be a highlight of the trip. The views, though hampered by the haze from the forest fire, were spectacular. This hike is on my list to do again on a clear day.

The wildflowers were in bloom and there was a cute little forest of some pine trees struggling for survival on the open rocky ridge. I expected to see a hobbit or gnome at any minute.

At the summit we relaxed for a while near what is either a windbreak built out of rocks or possibly even a native American vision quest pit and enjoyed watching birds
riding the thermal currents. On a lark, I tried my cell phone. It showed no coverage but I dialed anyway and Penny answered! I was glad to be able to report that I was alive; I think I got a little grumpy towards the end of the first segment as I was worried about Penny being worried about me. Karen then tried to call Keith but the phone would no longer work!

We headed back to the Herman Creek trail and took it back to the PCT which we followed to the Chinidere Mt. trail, a short but steep series of switchbacks to the summit. There were many of the windbreaks/vision quest pits at the summit here too and the view included Wahtum Lake and Tomlike Mt.

We headed back to camp via the steep PCT shortcut trail. Back in camp we had literally hours to waste before dark so we finished up the tequila, played a game of scrabble, and took pictures of my blisters. The fourth toe wasn’t as bad as it looks in the picture; the dirty blister bandage was still on it.

Then we decided to build an actual campfire which had us craving fire baked potatoes. This was our first campfire on either segment (except for at Olallie Lake which doesn’t really count). We both had fun playing with the fire and sang kids songs. I hope no one was around to hear our little concert; there certainly was no standing ovation when it was over. Finally we went to bed to cap off a most enjoyable and relaxing day.