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Dusty Lake camping trip
There are about 10 separate places where it's ok to leave your car overnight in the Quincy Wildlife Preserve, and I wanted to check out Dusty Lake first, if it had been taken, we'd try another. But at 7:30pm Friday there weren't any cars parked there, so we set up camp as the sun went down. Fell asleep pretty early and woke up around 8am - we hadn't bothered to put on the tent fly so it was still relatively cool. I told Reg we needed to get up early to hike to the lake proper (we were technically camped at the trailhead) before it got too hot.
So we did, about 3/4 of a mile to the lake. It was a really lovely day, and the lake was gorgeous. I washed my feet in it when we got there, 'cos Dusty Lake is aptly named. And I forgot to bring an extra pair of socks, since except for the hike and night I was wearing sandals. After a while at the lake we headed back, and then other people started showing up. Actually, after we started dinner Friday night, some couple showed up to go fishing. They must have left around midnight, just before the cop showed up asking about automatic weapon fire. (We'd heard it earlier but I thought it was fireworks.) But yeah, apparently you hear gunfire all the livelong day out there anyway, but we definitely heard some automatic weapon fire while at the lake too.
After our little hike we set up a blanket for shade till about 4pm, during which time about four cars and trucks came to do the lake hike. It was 92F in the shade, I could not believe people were hiking in that weather, but oh well. I was too lay to walk to the outhouse every time I had to pee, so I went to find a rocky area out of site, and I found someone's old tent and camp chair. (We'd also forgotten to pack our camp chairs.) Reg grabbed the chair and fixed it up and we kept trading off sitting in it.
At around 6pm we started the fire for dinner, and then it started to rain. Seemed to stop for a minute, then BOOM again woah. I fortunately had brought my rain pants and jacket, so I made our hot dogs and everything in the driving thunderstorm. It was still about 80F but felt a lot cooler, since I had to run to the tent to get my clothes. And after the rain stopped, it was 8pm and still relatively cloudy, so it didn't really feel very warm.
So we fell asleep really early and woke up at 7am. Well, I did, Reg didn't wake up for two more hours. It was 78F in the shade, felt really nice so I read while sitting in the duct-taped chair. Someone rode up in a dune buggy ORV type thang, kids around our age (or I guess mid-20s) from near Seattle after Reg got up. He chatted with them while I packed our stuff up. (Reg had packed everything Friday, so I did this chore Sunday.) I finally finished cleaning the tent out and went for my daypack, where I thought I'd left my trip tunes/CD rom. Unfortunately it was in my main bag, so I had to dig in there. Fortunately it was in a jewel case so quite easy to find. I put on Neon Bible by Arcade Fire, which let me assure you is superb driving music for the desert.
The weather was even nicer Sunday than Saturday, but we could see the Cascades starting around Ellensburg, covered in clouds. And lo and behold it began drizzling just past Snoqualmie Ski Area. Then around North Bend (my first and only pee stop on 90) it just really started coming down. Well, not really that bad, but gross enough that I pulled on my wool hoodie. The McDonald's was packed, so I ran to the Taco Time to pee. No line at all there, whew. Franz Ferdinand started on my CD as we got back on 90, and not long afterwards we were home in the 62F overcast 98004. Dammit.
More pics here.
So we did, about 3/4 of a mile to the lake. It was a really lovely day, and the lake was gorgeous. I washed my feet in it when we got there, 'cos Dusty Lake is aptly named. And I forgot to bring an extra pair of socks, since except for the hike and night I was wearing sandals. After a while at the lake we headed back, and then other people started showing up. Actually, after we started dinner Friday night, some couple showed up to go fishing. They must have left around midnight, just before the cop showed up asking about automatic weapon fire. (We'd heard it earlier but I thought it was fireworks.) But yeah, apparently you hear gunfire all the livelong day out there anyway, but we definitely heard some automatic weapon fire while at the lake too.
After our little hike we set up a blanket for shade till about 4pm, during which time about four cars and trucks came to do the lake hike. It was 92F in the shade, I could not believe people were hiking in that weather, but oh well. I was too lay to walk to the outhouse every time I had to pee, so I went to find a rocky area out of site, and I found someone's old tent and camp chair. (We'd also forgotten to pack our camp chairs.) Reg grabbed the chair and fixed it up and we kept trading off sitting in it.
At around 6pm we started the fire for dinner, and then it started to rain. Seemed to stop for a minute, then BOOM again woah. I fortunately had brought my rain pants and jacket, so I made our hot dogs and everything in the driving thunderstorm. It was still about 80F but felt a lot cooler, since I had to run to the tent to get my clothes. And after the rain stopped, it was 8pm and still relatively cloudy, so it didn't really feel very warm.
So we fell asleep really early and woke up at 7am. Well, I did, Reg didn't wake up for two more hours. It was 78F in the shade, felt really nice so I read while sitting in the duct-taped chair. Someone rode up in a dune buggy ORV type thang, kids around our age (or I guess mid-20s) from near Seattle after Reg got up. He chatted with them while I packed our stuff up. (Reg had packed everything Friday, so I did this chore Sunday.) I finally finished cleaning the tent out and went for my daypack, where I thought I'd left my trip tunes/CD rom. Unfortunately it was in my main bag, so I had to dig in there. Fortunately it was in a jewel case so quite easy to find. I put on Neon Bible by Arcade Fire, which let me assure you is superb driving music for the desert.
The weather was even nicer Sunday than Saturday, but we could see the Cascades starting around Ellensburg, covered in clouds. And lo and behold it began drizzling just past Snoqualmie Ski Area. Then around North Bend (my first and only pee stop on 90) it just really started coming down. Well, not really that bad, but gross enough that I pulled on my wool hoodie. The McDonald's was packed, so I ran to the Taco Time to pee. No line at all there, whew. Franz Ferdinand started on my CD as we got back on 90, and not long afterwards we were home in the 62F overcast 98004. Dammit.
More pics here.