Photos by family and story by Jason and Jessy

When the brothers and I were 11 and 9, we joined our parents on a hike through the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. It was a hike through some familiar areas and many not so familiar. Recently we completed another hike inspired by this first one, the brothers and I. It was a wonderful reminder of this long-ago adventure, which, for us, was a most memorable experience.

Story By Jessy Hummel from his journal in 1989!

September 2, 1989 Day One

Our journey begins at Stevens Pass. Our destination, Snoqualmie Pass. Time allowed, 9 days. Today we are camping at Lake Josephine. Everybody has a monsterously, gigantic, humongo pack!

THE BIG PACKS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE HIKE

September 3, 1989 Day Two

Today we hiked 11 miles and it was a beautifull day. We saw a three point buck. We camped right under Thunder Mountain.

September 4, 1989 Day three

Our day started climbing over Suprise Gap and Peiper Pass. From here we could see many ice-blue lakes below us. Tonight we have a big camp fire in the giant boulders.

Camp today is Deception Pass.

CATHEDRAL PASS

OH MY GAWD WHAT ARE OUR PARENTS CARRYING??? IS THERE A KID IN THERE?!!!!!!!!

September 5, 1989 Day Four

There was a huge thunder and lightening storm last night. Today we have 13.5 miles to Waptus Lake. Waptus is the biggest lake in the Alpine Lakes.

HIKING ABOVE WAPTUS LAKE.

WAPTUS LAKE

September 6, 1989 Day Five

The weather has cleared as we begin our days journey. At 2 miles, we make the dangerous crossing over Daniels Creek. Mom fell in and could not get up with her heavy pack. All day we hiked around Mt Daniel. At last we find a great beach camp at Waptus Lake.

JESSY, JOSH, AND I AT WAPTUS LAKE THROWING ROCKS

September 7, 1989 Day Six

The climb out of Waptus Lake is long and steep. We are out of water and none is to be found. At last we come to camp at Escondido Tarns. These are 5 small lakes left by an old glacier. The Air Force fighter jets come so close we are sure they will crash into a mountain. Frogs are everywhere here!

September 8, 1989 Day Seven

Today my brothers and I started out ahead. Right away we met a Black Bear cub. It put its paws in the air and looked at us from on top of a boulder. Then the bear ran and so did we. Our hike today is to Spectacle Lake. This is the best Lake yet. Granite arms go everywhere like octopus into the lake. Above us is three Queens Mountain, Chikamin Peak and Summit Chief Mountain.

MAKING A SPECTACLE AT SPECTACLE LAKE

SPECTACLE LAKE CLIMBING

JASON, JESSY, DAD, JOSH, AND COCHISE WITH THREE QUEENS MTN BEHIND

JOSH AND MOM WITH CITADEL BEHIND

CROSSING LEMAH CREEK

September 9, 1989 Day Eight

We have 14.5 miles to go today across the hardest part of the trail. The trail was blasted for 4 miles into a cliff. This section was also the most difficult 600 feet...(jessy never finished - he must've gotten a C, but A for effort!).

CHIKAMIN PEAK ON THE LEFT

September 10, 1989 Day Nine

[Since Jessy didn't finish, I will.] We discovered a hill covered in blue berries. It was called Huckleberry Mountain. We ate as many as we could and picked them for hours. A family friend met us at our last camp and brought food. On the last day we hiked out to Snoqualmie Pass.

PRESENT DAY:

This hike is ~ 72 miles long and with additional day hikes to various places we surely added many more. I don't ever recall sitting around much.

This is hoped to be the first of many more stories to come. Thanks for stopping by!!!

And a BIG thanks to JESSY for writing this story at age 9. It was cool to find while rumaging through old papers.

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