Trip Report
Winter Scramble - Upper Lena Lake
Redirected to Upper Lena Lake (originally to Point 5803 SW of ‘The Brothers’, but ridge starting at 2100’ near Lena Creek was too cliffy and brushy to afford reasonable progress).
Dave Morgan
- Sat, Nov 10, 2018
- Winter Scramble - Upper Lena Lake
- Lena Lake
- Scrambling
- Successful
-
- Road suitable for all vehicles
-
Low water levels allowed crossing of Lena Creek at ~2100 feet (in bare feet and pants rolled up) to complete our negatory evaluation of the ridge to Point 5803. Although trail was snow free with a fair number of large downed trees, the ascent to Upper Lena Lake passed through several very cold hollows with icy conditions. The crux was one particular spicy spot (est. ~4000’) where the trail crossed icy rock above a large pool.
Redirected to Upper Lena Lake (originally to Point 5803 SW of ‘The Brothers’, but ridge starting at 2100’ near Lena Creek was too cliffy and brushy to afford reasonable progress). Encountered lone hiker descending at ~2000’ (with rock in hand) that claimed to have encountered small cougar walking towards them on trail (possible Lynx?). After the four of us armed ourselves with our cougar sticks (ice axes ;), we bravely continued forward. Crossed Lena Creek at ~2100’ and ascended 300’ through very dense brush and cliffy areas before deciding to change our trip to Upper Lena Lake. While ascending towards Upper Lena Lake we re-encountered the lone hiker who had teamed up with another person to complete their trip. Total time was ~9 hours, with ~6 hours for ascent (including stream crossing and evaluation of ridge), and ~3 hours for descent. Photos from this trip can be seen here.