Located within the 5,600 acre Big Buck Wildlife Area, Aspen Lake makes a perfect quick outting during the spring season. This weekend, being Memorial Weekend, usually means tons of people at all the snow-free trails, but not here. We only met a handful of hikers and four people on horseback. The walk to the lake is a short distance from the Elbow Coulee road; it took our slow and wandering family about 30 minutes to get there. The trail consists of an old road that is open to hikers, mountain bikers, and horses. The lake itself is fenced in from cattle, which were not out and about yet, but their calling cards (cow pies!) are everywhere. The balsamroot is in full bloom and the lupine is just getting started–both are carpeting the hillsides and are simply spectacular.
If you go:
Aspen Lake USGS Quad (trails.com)
WDFW Wildlife Areas and Access Points
Posted on May 24th, 2008 by aana
Filed under: Family Outings, Hiking and Backpacking | No Comments »
Here is one of two beautiful white ptarmigans spotted on a snowy hillside on Sunday during a trip up the North Cascades Highway behind the gate. 
Today we chose to push a stroller and carry skis a short distance to take advantage of some snow that is begining to dwindle away along the hillsides of the valley. While we had a few remarks about our interesting combination, it cannot compare with the motorcycle-pulling-a-man-on-a-bicycle combo we saw starting up the same time as us. What people won’t do to get to the snow this time of year…
Winter just doesn’t want to let go. Last weekend the valley received snow here and there. By Monday morning there was up to a few inches of new snow in some places. Three of us decided to test it out with a trip up to Loup Loup. Driving in, we noticed the snow was fairly wet and could make for more challenging skiing than Spring typically yields. We hiked strait up the hill under temperamental skies that showered snow on us one moment then sun the next. We then tentatively began making turns downhill through a couple of inches of thick and wet crud. It took a little work getting down, but we all had a good time laughing at ourselves, each other, and the wonderful conditions Mother Nature provided.
Ahhh, the first day of Spring. The birds are comming back, the highway department is about to start work on clearing the pass, and I’ve seen the first Spring Beauties in bloom. And it snowed overnight, but only a skiff. Spring is coming and with it hopefully more frequent updates on the site. If you are interested in contributing, let us know!
