Distance: 12.1 mi.
Elevation Gain: 5200 ft.
We were excited to spend 4th of July weekend relaxing at a lake with friends. We got started from the Libby Lake Trailhead (requiring Northwest Forest Pass) a bit after 1 PM and made a gradual climb up to Libby Lake over the course of 4 hours.
We set up camp and had an amazing dinner of calzones made by Jim and fresh rainbow trout caught and fried by Craig. The lake had a bunch of trout that were eager to bite.
The next morning we left camp around 10 AM and retraced our steps until we reached the cutie decaying cabin in the middle of the forest.
From here we turned left (west) and traversed through some trees and snow patches (nothing very steep) until we reached the base of the climb up Hoodoo Peak at 11 AM. The scramble up Hoodoo was a lot of fun with large, chunky, sticky granite boulders and incredible views.
We reached the summit at 12 PM and then began our descent back down. We ended up descending a bit further skier’s left (east) than we had come up for a more direct route, which went fine. We headed back out the way we came and reached the trailhead at 5:30 PM. We highly recommend this for a weekend trip – especially if you like to fish! It would be great to come back sometime in the fall when the larches are golden.
(Download the free Gaia GPS app on your phone to view tracks and then get a Gaia GPS membership if you want offline access. Discount below!)
Recommended brew: Old Schoolhouse Ruud Awakening IPA
Gear Used:
- Backpacking tent
- Fishing pole
- GPS
- Helmet
- Sleeping pad
- Steel ice axe (not used)
- Summer sleeping bag
- Stove
- Trail runners
- Trekking poles
- Water drops/filter
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