weekend

Hiked to a Hidden Lake /  by Anthony Ngu

Spent this weekend hiking to a place called Hidden Lake and I had no clue what to expect.

In order to get to the hike from Seattle we woke up at 4:00 am and drove two and a half hours and through 4 miles of gravel, pot hole riddled road. There was a moment where our cars almost got stuck because a couple of holes were big enough that tires weren't touching the ground but with a careful positioning of the tires and a little extra weight courtesy of two more passengers we managed to triumph over the hole. Parking at the trailhead was pretty tight, but luckily we got there early and snagged two prime spots near the trail.

The start of the hike was pretty normal and we hiked through the forest for about a mile before reaching a clearing in the canyon. We then started to hike up through the canyon crevice where there was a small river and a lot of waist high plants and flowers. If you looked back during the hike you could see down the whole canyon crevice which made for amazing views. Once we got to the top of the ridge, we expected to see the lake but there was another ridge just past it. 

After that ridge, we found out that the lake was huge and actually a significant hike down the other side. While on top of that ridge, we decided to instead head up a short but steep path to the lookout tower and relax there. After that, we trekked down back to our cars and arrived back home around 7pm.

Overnight Backpacking Trip to Gothic Basin /  by Anthony Ngu

A couple friends and I decided to do a harder hike and camping trip over this past weekend. We ultimately decided on Gothic Basin, a 9 mile and 3000 foot elevation gain trail.

I met up with Charlie and we went to REI before our trek in order to pick up some gear and we began our trek. Unfortunately, we didn't make it for sunset because the hike up took a toll on us and sunrise the following morning was quite cloudy and foggy.

I later learned that my bag is pretty heavy in comparison to normal backpacking stashes (mine was around 50 lbs). Here's what my bag consisted of:

Check out the vlog of our adventure!

Sunrise Hike to Mt. Pilchuck /  by Anthony Ngu

Albert, Hillary, and I decided to do a sunrise hike up Mt. Pilchuck to the lookout tower and planned it the night before realizing that we would have to leave Seattle around 1 am in order to make it up to the peak by 5 am (sunrise). It took us around 2 hours to drive to Mt. Pilchuck and we started the hike around 3 am. To be honest, it was an arduous hike with an elevation gain of 2200 feet for around 2.6 miles one way, but the views were spectacular and well worth the amount of energy it took to get up to the top.

Since we started the hike at 3 am, before sunrise, we had to walk most of the trail in the dark while carrying flashlights. By the time we got close to the peak, the "blue hour" was well under way and we didn't need the flashlights anymore. It turns out that a couple parties of people had stayed the night in the lookout tower since sunset the previous day (great idea! and something I plan to do in the future)

We hung out at the lookout tower for a couple hours and grabbed some photos as the sun rose and illuminated the sky. (Note: it was pretty windy, so I would advise hand warmers, jackets, and blankets) There was a moment where a fellow vlogger was out on a different peak and the wind picked up some of the snow from the mountainside and wafted it over him and the ridge he was standing on in an arc making it look like he had a force field.

I highly recommend this hike. It's my favorite so far!

Here's the vlog video to go along with the hike! Let me know what you think and subscribe if you want to see more!