Melakwa Lake

With it being so warm, we decided that a trip to an alpine lake would be a great idea.  We really wanted some water at Noble Knob to cool off in....So we found Melakwa Lake on the WTA sight.  It's easy enough to find as the directions are very good from the WTA. We arrived at 9AM to an already full parking lot. We parked at the head in parking .25 miles from the trail head.  It was the best idea as the side of the road was full by the return trip making the whole area just a mess to maneuver around.  There was a WTA work party at the trail head...thank you for all you do!  They cut the bushes and a tree across the trail by the end of day--not quite to the crossing at Denny Creek.  We made it easily to Denny Creek and no one was there by the time we got there.  The first 2 miles are pretty easy with not a lot of elevation gain, but after those 2 miles, the trail starts getting serious. Lots of rocks, but no problems with footing.  You go in and out of woods...the woods giving a little temperature relief when the sun is out!  Lots of switch backs then head into steeper switchback for the last mile before you crest the ridge.  Once at the top it's a nice little .25 mile downward trek to the lake.  The lake had a few campers already and lots of hikers already peppered around basking in the sunlight.  We kept going around the lake to Upper Melakwa lake which was less crowded.  We found ourselves a nice big boulder close to the edge and climbed up for an amazing 2 hour lunch.   Terah and her hubby, Adam, took a swim in the lake, which was freezing! I made it only up to my waist as I wimped out.  As Terah put it 'It just takes your breath away!"  There is a large patch of snow, which Terah stopped to make a snow angel. Our trip back down was uneventful, but we must warn you...the trek out past Denny will be slow as families are coming and going with small children.  They don't pull over to let you past if you are faster.  Should we return, we plan on leaving from the Granite Mountain trail head as it is 10 miles from there and hit less 'rush hour traffic' on that last mile down.  We clocked out door to door at 10 miles with actual hiking time of 4 hours round trip.  Great day..wonderful views as you can see below:

no people yet at Denny Creek

Melakwa Lake

Upper Melakwa Lake

The plunge!