Coolio Trip Report: Merrit Lake

“Trip report by Dicentra:

Pixie, her brother Doug, Durante616, SeaCoyote and I did a short, hot, buggy backpacking trip to Merritt Lake (Glacier Peak area). Sarbar wimped out on us...CHUMP! It was only 3 miles to the lake, but STEEP...and HOT. How many times did we stop? When we got to the lake there were these scary/creepy/troll-looking "goat people" there with their pack goats. They looked like they had just come down off of the mountain (yes, I know we were in the mountains, but they were creepy!) We got to camp at 5100 feet and set up in the dust...yeah, the dust. UG! We were so filthy by the end of the weekend! And Zoe didn't help by playing in camp, kicking up dust.

After tents were set up, everyone except SeaCoyote went for a little swim. Cold, but really nice on a hot day. It took me a long time to finally go in all the way...And I discovered Zoe doesn't like swimming. LOL. Doug found us a bench on the other side of the lake and swam it across to us. It didn't make a very good surf board. lol.

Then it was time to lounge around camp all lazy like, tellin stories and whining about the heat/bugs. It was better once we got the fire built.

Dinner for Pixie, Doug and I was Prosecutor's Island Royale Salmon. YUM! Doug had packed in some hamburger helper (already cooked) so he had that too. SeaCoyote had some sticky rice and spicey stuff and Durante stole my ravioli idea. If nothing else, we ate REALLY well on this trip! At dinner time the wine came out and progressed into the evening of stories around the campfire.

The stars were freaking amazing! It was so clear and beautiful out...you could see the milky way.

In the morning, the mosquitos were even worse. Even Zoe had had enough. We ended up hiking out instead of exploring the ridgeline because of the bugs and it looked like the weather might be turning on us. So it was off to breakfast at a cafe (what was the name of it?) at Cole's Corner.

Thanks for another great trip all!

http://community.webshots.com/album/164732577UMaLRp”

“Picture Link

Pixie has got some nice looking legs! ;-)

Thanks for the TR and pixs!
I've got to get out to the Left Coast sometime.”

“So did Coolio come along, or not?”

“He must have been hiding in the pictures.”

“"Coolio" was to try to get all y'all's attention. Because only one person looked at my last trail report. Made me sad. And it was better than this one too. (sigh)
Thanks for the compliment(legs) SS!”

“Pixie - Just trying to drive up some more interest in the thread!
Sex sells, baby! ;-)

Glad I could be of help. ;-)

I can't even think of swiming in that snowmelt lake. Cold cold cold.”

“The water was about as cold as any flat lander lake in the "sheety." It was super refreshing and the only time there weren't mosquitoes or dirt on me! It actually isn't one of my favorite trips. We were sort of cranky actually.”

“pixie - Put a dang email address in your profile.”

“I saved that one for posterity. hee hee”

“I fixed the email thingy.”

“LOL
Ol' coolio eyes are bugged out from seeing those legs! ;-)”

“lol, no problem. Enjoy it while you can, I'll probably get a notice from Webshots saying I posted a copyrighted pic before too long...”

“Looks like a nice, relaxing, camping trip. My buddy just moved back to Seattle so I'm hoping to get out and about in WA state more often. So green...

Thanks for sharing!”

“If your buddy backpacks he should join the Posse (PNWH-ers)”

“Yah. He does! He's a Mountaineer. If he is interested, how should he go about joining the group?”

“cool trip report and pics :)


so just how cold was the water?
we swam in 63 degree water this weekend. I almost had a heartattack....

glad you had fun.”

“pnwh-subscribe@yahoogroups.com We are way more laid back than the Mountaineers. Send him our way!”

“I don't know the exact temp, but it wasn't much colder than a swimming pool. So I would guess around 70 degrees. If you about had a heartattack at 63. It felt good after climbing up all those switchbacks with our packs.”

“Yeah, we don't care if you get falling down drunk, or decide to wear cotton in the rain...of course, we WILL make fun of you :-D
We are just a bunch of fruitloops that like to get out ;-)And we ensnared Pixie! hehheh!!”