A weekend trip (Feb. 12-13, 2000) with John and Sally
that was to attempt Navaho Peak from Lake Isabelle, but
due to snow ended up being mostly a tent-sitting
experience. The following is extracted from the trip
report I wrote shortly thereafter. Photos follow.
This past weekend, John and Sally Stoddard and
I went for a snow shoeing/winter camping trip to L.
Isabelle in the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area. L.
Isabelle is located about 2.5 miles W. of Brainard
Lake. It is a popular summer trail, with a parking
lot by the Long Lake trailhead shortening the
distance to about 4.5 miles round trip. In the
winter, however, you have to start at Red Rock Lake,
about 1.5 miles below Brainard, and it ends up being
about a 4-5 mile trip each way.
We got to the parking area around 9:00AM Sat.,
Feb. 12. We then started up the drainage, passing Red
Rock Lake, Brainard Lake, and Long Lake in that
order. The snow conditions were good, with some fresh
powder having fallen (even in bad snow years like
this year - so far - the Brainard Lake area gets
pounded). The valley and peaks were visible when we
started, but then the clouds moved in and that was
the last we saw of any peaks (at least, in detail),
for the rest of the weekend.
We ended up camping in the meadow right below
L. Isabelle, which is 10,868' according to the
topo, shortly after noon. It then started snowing.
While Sally stayed in the tent (she wasn't
feeling that hot), John and I went up to L. Isabelle
and looked around, but didn't venture to the W.
end of the lake because of avalanche conditions (the
lake is surrounded by chutes). I then got strangely
sick for a while coming back down from the lake - my
conclusion was that I hadn't eaten enough that
day, and was simply tapped of all reserves, since a
granola bar set it aright and I was fine after
that.
We then spent the rest of Sat. and Sun.
morning huddled in the tent (John's North Face
VE-24) while it blew and snowed around us, resulting
in whiteout conditions much of the time. Team
estimates of overnight snowfall range from 8"
(me, I am always conservative) to 12" (John and
Sally). We got to spend much of the time cooking from
the hanging stove in John's tent, which works
real well when you can't go outside, but is still
nerve-wracking when the lit stove with boiling pot is
hanging right over Sally's sleeping bag, with
Sally in it.
We left Sun. morning about 10:00, and made it
out (punching new trail the whole way) by 1:30. Then
it was Italian food in Nederland at Neapolitan
Nick's, and back to home.
