Hike of the Week : Lake Ingalls

Lake Ingalls
"Alpine Beauty under good Stuartship"

by Craig Romano
produced by Michael Fagin

Quick Facts
Location: Wenatchee Mountains, Teanaway River Country
Land Agency: Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Wenatchee National Forest
Roundtrip: 10.8 miles
Cumulative Elevation gain: 3,200 feet
Access: From Cle Elum, WA head east on SR 970. Turn north on Teanaway River Road (CR 970). Proceed on FR 9737 to trailhead at road’s end.
Notes: NW Forest Pass Required, Dogs prohibited
Green Trails Map: Mount Stuart, WA No. 209

Trying to determine the most beautiful lake in the sprawling Alpine Lakes Wilderness is more difficult than trying to find the biggest and oldest Douglas-fir in the Pacific Northwest. Measuring a lake’s beauty is not quite like calculating a tree’s height and age. There’s no solid numbers to back your claim, only your senses-which upon feasting on the sparkling waters of Lake Ingalls may just proclaim, “This is it! The most beautiful lake in the Cascades!”

A bold statement indeed, but one with plenty of evidence to back it up. Housed in a barren cirque and teetering on the edge of a high ledge 6,400 feet above sea level, Ingalls captures the imagination as well as the striking reflection of 9, 415-foot Mount Stuart, one of the highest non-volcanic peaks in the state. Stuart’s spell-binding southern face of sheer rock wall rises behind Ingalls’ cascading outlet. When the winds lay low, the stark image is replicated on the icy waters of the lake-inverted for your viewing pleasure.

A scene like this is not easy to come by, and you’ll have to work for it if you really want it. But the trail to the lake-part old-road-part prospector’s path-and part climber’s route-is well used and well beaten in. During the summer months this mostly southern exposed hike will have you panting for water and longing for shaded relief. But in the coolness of October you’ll only be panting over the views.

The lake basin is barren, composed of polished rock scoured by a long-gone glacier. But along the ridge-the one you must first attain before dropping to the lake-a handful of tenacious trees fight for survival-among them whitebark pine, sub-alpine fir and western and alpine larch. During this time of year, it is the larches that you’ll most notice. Their needles radiate a golden hue, adding a warm glow to this otherwise desolate but beautiful backcountry basin.

Hike it for yourself and see if you agree if Lake Ingalls is indeed the most beautiful of the Alpine Lakes.