Colchuck Lake Galaxy Quest

I won a permit for the Colchuck Zone earlier in the year and invited four of my old hiking and climbing partners to join me. They jumped at the chance and our planning reached a fever pitch as our departure day approached. We were all beyond stoked. Of course, all eyes were on the weather, which had been great for the same week for the prior five years. I had wanted those calendar days because we would be present in the window of a new moon and potentially brilliant starry night skies, with no light pollution and, if clear weather prevailed, the Galactic Core of the Milky Way would be majestically visible, arcing above Colchuck Peak. It was an opportunity for night sky photography that I didn’t want to miss.

Wednesday, Sept 25: Hiking to Colchuck Lake with a 20 lb. day pack is good exercise. And we did just that with an earlier season recon hike. Hiking in with a 50 lb. pack with overnight gear (including 10 lbs. of photo gear) is a real grinder. I brought poles which I found it helpful on the way up and down with an awkwardly heavy pack. We headed to the south end of the lake to try and snag one of the bigger campsites and found them occupied. Fortunately, Mark found some spots among some shoreline boulders which had been underwater a month ago and that’s where we pitched our three tents. This became Camp 1 and we settled in to enjoy Peter’s tasty dinner, which I subsequently named ‘Marinated Steak Argentina’. I took photographs at the camp and we stayed up for the reveal of the Galactic Core of the Milky Way as intermittent clouds drifted over the peaks. The weather looked auspicious. However, that night brutal winds howled in from the north side of the lake and relentlessly pummeled our tents which were exposed on the shoreline. The noise was like being in the path of a jumbo jet landing. I am not exaggerating. The combination of all the incessant wind noise, tent beating, and snoring from one of our guys kept me up all night. Fun.

Unfortunately, we only completed four days of a six-day trip as the weather rapidly deteriorated from sunny, blue sky conditions to howling winds and a good dump of snow, with even more forecasted. It figures. It was the Cascades, a temperamental and unpredictable mountain range with mercurial weather. It was ironic that it was to be a replay of so many of our former mountain adventures where inclement weather often pulled up a seat at the table and dominated the conversation. Nevertheless, we accepted our fortune with grace and remember our brief time up there together as a sweet reunion.

I did capture some spherical panoramas at Colchuck Lake. Two are daytime camp side and two are with the star-filled night sky. The 360s are hosted at 360cities.net. Click the links and for best viewing click on the ‘Toggle Fullscreen’ icon in the panel in the upper right of the onscreen.

Colchuck Lake, Alpine Friends, Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Washington State: https://www.360cities.net/image/colchuck-lake-alpine-friends-alpine-lakes-wilderness-washington-state

Colchuck Lake, Camp Life, Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Washington State: https://www.360cities.net/image/colchuck-lake-camp-life-alpine-lakes-wilderness-washington-state

Colchuck Lake, Milky Way, Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Washington State: https://www.360cities.net/image/colchuck-lake-milky-way-alpine-lakes-wilderness-washington-state

Colchuck Lake, Stargazers, Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Washington State: https://www.360cities.net/image/colchuck-lake-stargazers-alpine-lakes-wilderness-washington-state