Camping at Diablo Lake

 

Since Adam was in town, we decided to go camping on my days off. Neither one of us knows that much about the Washington area, so we had to research a place to camp. I really liked the drive through North Cascades National Park when I dropped him off on the Pacific Crest Trail, so we finally decided to camp at Diablo Lake on July 5-6.

Driving to the lake, we first picked up some firewood along the way. Many cars were heading out of the park, presumably because it was Sunday night and they had to go back to work on Monday morning.

When we got to the lake, there were still several campers there. We chose a spot and set up camp. I made a one-match fire and Adam cooked steaks over the campfire. It had been awhile since I had a good steak, and was impressed by his culinary skills. He cooked them to perfection in the dark!

Adam made some amazing steaks during our camping trip.

The next day, we decided to hike on one of the nearby trails. Unfortunately there was a fire that prevented us from traveling along the Thunder Creek Trail very far. We instead to hike on Fourth of July Pass to the Panther Potholes. The trail only had peek-a-boo scenery as it was densely forested. We were able to see a sizable waterfall next to Colonial Peak. Fourth of July Pass campground is easy to ignore if you're not looking for signage. However, Panther Potholes are just beyond it and were a great place for us to turn around.

Adam poses in front of Thunder Creek.

A large waterfall near Colonial Peak is visible from Fourth of July Trail.

If you look closely, you'll see two people hiking over a log at Panther Potholes.

I pose at an overlook at Panther Potholes.

When we got back to Diablo Lake campground, we made some lunch and then drove back to Snohomish. I was surprised that for not hiking at all this summer, I wasn't sore the next day as I had expected, especially considering we hiked so far with a 2,400-foot elevation gain.

It was a great time for Adam and I to talk. We had such a great weekend. Adam had to leave the next day for Oregon, so I said my goodbyes to him Tuesday.