Troop 24 - The High Adventure Troop Massie Lake - Part 1 October 2000 by Cascade Bill Mooseker

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Heading up the Chiwawa

We got a bit of Indian Summer for our October Hike. This was a trip that I had wanted to do for about 30 years. The trip starts at Trinity, an old mining town at the end of the Chiwawa River Road. You head out on the Buck Creek Pass Trail. After about two miles the Chiwawa R. Trail takes off and begins climbing up to the hanging Chiwawa valley. You have good views of Buck Mountain and up Buck Creek as you do this initial climb. Soon the trail enters the upper Chiwawa and you alternate between forest and meadows as seen in this photo. This part of the hike was the same as for the 1999 Chiwawa Basin Hike.

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On Massie Lake High Route

The Massie Lake Trail (?) is an old sheep drive that was abandoned years ago. It takes real effort even to find where the trail leaves the Chiwawa trail. After that it gets even worse - very very steep with 40 - 50 years of blowdowns. What tread is left is vague and hard to follow. This picture was taken on the Massie Lake spur trail just after it leaves the Massie Lake trail going on up the ridge. In October the days are short so the sun was already setting behind the ridge as we dropped down to the lake.

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Morning at our Camp at Massie Lake

While the trail to the lake is very difficult, the effort is worth it. There are a couple of nice camping spots on the eastern shore of the lake. We took the one at the southern end and pitched our tents in this meadow overlooking the lake.

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Preparing Breakfast

This is the cooking area. There is a big firepit with good sitting logs.

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View from Camp Area

In October, the larches have turned in to their fall rainment. The yellow of the larches and the red of the blueberry bushes add highlights to the scene.

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Another View from Our Camp

This is the view looking north. In the background you can see two of our party checking out the other campsite.

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View Across the Lake

The view here is looking northeast across the lake. You can see Red Mountain to the right and Chiwawa Mountain just to the left of center. These peaks are across the Chiwawa Valley on Phelps Ridge. Our camp was to the right just off the photo edge.

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South End of Massie Lake

There are a lot of rainbow trout in Massie lake but they are very wary and hard to induce into striking a lure. When Bill P. first got to the lake he dropped his pack and got out his rod. He hooked a nice fish on his first cast but neither he nor any of the rest of us who tried our luck got any further strikes. Our camp was just behind the larches seen at the right of this photo.

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Red Mountain

If you climb up the little hill to the east of our camp you get this view of Red Mountain across the Valley on Phelps Ridge. If you study the photo you can see the old mining road that is now the Chiwawa River Trail traversing just above the timberline on Red Mountain. We day hiked up this trail in 1999 after camping in Chiwawa Basin.

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Another View of Red Mountain

Another shot of Red Mountain. The old mining road is a little clearer in this shot.