Bagging 16 Lakes in One Day in Gifford Pinchot National Forest
An itinerary and route overview for a day full of lake bagging that I did on my 24th birthday in Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
I thought I'd write this post to show how I've been able to bag 16 lakes in one day. I have individual post for all 16 successfully bagged lakes, but I thought I'd show the route I took to bag all of them.
For my 24th birthday, I went out with my parents and we drove 101 miles on backroads creating a U shape from Carson, WA to Trout Lake, WA. Not including the driving from Oregon where we live both ways.
I had all sorts of lakes and such marked on my maps with a rough concept of the route to take, but our route was very much spontaneous and I had no expectations of how many lakes we'd get to. I didn't expect to bag as many as we did, but it was a lot of fun. I wasn't feeling 100% so hiking any long distance wasn't really an option. I wanted to show how doing multiple drive up lakes, short trails, and even a few very short bushwhacks can make it possible for me to still experience the outdoors even with a chronic illness. I was able to explore new areas and scout lakes I'd like to come back to and explore by kayak. There were a few unsuccessful attempts to access lakes which is all part of the adventure as well.
This post is just a quick overview of the route and order in which I bagged the lakes as well as explored a few other places outdoors. For more details on each lake and the waterfalls I'll link their individual posts.
A short note about how this day was for me (skip to the next section if you just want the route information):
I still struggle to write about the reality trying to do outdoor activities with a chronic illness and intense sensory issues. I tend to focus more on the data and factual aspects in my trip reports. So I'm challenging myself to say just a little bit here about the reality of this day. I woke up feeling overloaded and even just being in the truck and driving around felt like too much, but I so desperately wanted to be outdoors on my birthday that I ignored what my body was telling me. I was flaring a bit so hiking any real distance wasn't an option, but my greatest challenge wasn't the physical aspects of chronic illness, but the harsh reality of my sensory disorder.
The overload kept building throughout the day and it was getting harder and harder to enjoy myself and stay present. On the two hour drive home I had an episode and then was mostly unable to speak the rest of the evening, I had a dissociative meltdown when I got home and don't remember most of the time surrounding then due to the blank spots in memory the dissociation caused. It took over a week for me to "recover" from the sensory meltdown/dissociative episode.
Looking back on this day, I still struggle with determining whether in the end it was a good thing because at least I have the memories" or in reality it was too much and not even the memories feel good due to the reality of my experience. My reason in sharing this is because doing anything with any variety of chronic or mental illness comes with costs that are unseen to the outside eye. Every time I go out on a hike no matter of short or long, there is a cost to my body and mind. No amount "of positive thoughts" can overcome the reality of living in disabled body or mind. So all I can do is try when I have the energy and be prepared for what it costs me. And for me, living with a sensory disorder that at this point has no treatment options can mean one day outdoors, a short hike, or even one appointment can take days to weeks to recover from how much dysregulation it causes my body, nervous system, and mind.
Lakes Bagged: 16
Lakes Attempted (but unsuccessful): 5
Waterfalls Bagged: 2
Drove from Carson, WA to Panther Creek Rd (which turns into FS 65) to FS 60.
ATTEMPTED: Lake 45.9410, -121.7882
Turned off FS 240 - washed out areas through road but passable. Cars were blocking the road halfway to the lake so we turned around and will attempt again in the future.
Drove FS 60 to FS 6035 to FS 6040.
Campsite to lake edge 0.1 miles round trip
Bushwhacked down to edge - 0.13 miles round trip
Drove FS 6035 to FS 6035-051 (rough road required 4-Low).
Drove FS 6035 to FS 6020 to FS 24.
No picture
ATTEMPTED: Little Goose Lake
Tried bushwhacking from SW of FS 24. Barley got 30 ft into the woods before it got VERY dense. Decided to attempt in the future. Maybe from SE from the campground?
Drove FS 24 to Hidden Lakes TH.
0.26 miles round trip
Didn't attempt lakes 2 (medium) or 3 (small) because they will require bushwhacking to.
Drove FS 24 to Indian View Point
Lunch at Indian View Point
The sky was very hazy from wildfire smoke so we weren't able to see very much or very far. Visibility was low.
Drove FS 24 to Unmarked Rd.
Drove FS 24 to FS 230.
No picture.
ATTEMPTED: Surprise Lakes
There was a pack of dogs alongside the road. We decided to leave and not attempt the group of lakes in the area due to safety concerns. Sadly there wasn't anything we could do for them and even once we got home we weren't able to find any information on what could be done. So I guess just a PSA, don't abandon dogs in rural areas, it's pretty much a death sentence for them.
Drove FS 24 to FS 30.
Unnamed road walk 0.34 miles round trip
Drove FS 24 to FS 8851.
Drove FS 8851 to FS 24 to FS 8854 to FS 8854-040.
Drove FS 8854 to pull out.
Discovered unmarked trail 0.27 miles round trip.
Drove FS 8854 to FS 88 to FS 8860.
Grand Meadows - Bushwhack
I bushwhacked from FS 8860 to Grand Meadows which was 0.06 miles round trip. It was so green and very pretty.
Drove FS 8860 to FS 8810 to FS 23.
Unmarked trail 0.13 miles round trip.
There were two waterfalls.
Drove FS 23 to FS 2334 to FS 016.
Drove FS 2334 to FS 23 to FS 2329 to Takhlakh Lake Campground.
Drove FS 2329 to FS 2329-022.
The lake was completely dry. It was just a meadow. Unsure if it is actually a lake or if it's a seasonal lake.
Trail 0.09 miles round trip
Drove FS 2329-022 to FS 2329 to FS 23 to Trout Lake, WA.
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