For a long time now I have been eager to get up to what appeared to be a magical place. So far as I could tell by the homemade youtube movies laboriously produced by none other than local bouldering messiah Kelley Sheridan, Lake Serene was a bouldering/chilling paradise! The stage was set, the fire lit, and all I needed was a cast of willing characters to support me in my trek to find this outdoor enthusiast promise land. Last year my friend Nick and I kicked the idea around of carrying a crash pad or two up there to see what all the fuss was about, but those plans were run over by the all too accessible bouldering Mecca that is Leavenworth. Ho hum.
This summer has been a bit different. Adding some new faces to the crowd, and a bit of a twist on our incentives to seek out this place, we were off. 7:00 a.m. brought Greg, Erica, and Sarah to my door step. We loaded up the car, picked up Nick and were driving up route 2 at 10:30. We stumbled upon the access road to the trail head for Lake Serene with little to no directions and in a matter of turns were at the parking lot. The hike was rumored to be a killer. 3.7 miles doesn’t sound all too impressive to the weathered hiker but keep in mind that 1.5 of those miles you gain several thousand feet in elevation. We set a furious pace, reaching the more tedious switch backs in less than half an hour passing Bridal Veil Falls on our way:
Bridal Veil Falls as seen from the main trail.
Greg is a true master of stone.
Almost there, the views really start to open up.
The switch back part was not that bad. In fact the whole hike up wasn’t that bad, especially since I had been training my extreme hiking skills by slogging to and from Bob’s area 4 times in one week! We laughed our abs off the whole way up the trail and a big props/shout out/thank you goes to Greg who manned up and carried a half case of beer, bottle of wine, pounds of food, AND crash pad the whole way up. I don’t want to hear anyone complain about a hike ever again in this mans presence; he WILL school your ass! The farther we made it up the mountainside the more apparent the far reaching views and absolute solitude became. We finally reached a stretch of trail that reeked of flowers and herbs and I could tell we were close. I ran p and over a small hill after hearing a shriek of delight there it was, the mouth of the Lake Serene area. It was absolutely a dream…
The small rock in the distance on the lake is the huge slab of granite we called home for the day.
I knew exactly where our party had reservations and did not stop until I had crossed a small granite slab, snow field, and talus field passing several impressive boulders along the way. We made our home on a huge boulder with a slanted flat top, perfectly overlooking the lake, and conveniently sporting an absolutely fitting 20foot drop into a deep pool of water.
Nick swallowed up by the brilliance of the snow field.
The sun was blazing down and we spread ourselves out on the rocks flat surface soaking it in and occasionally(okay frequently) jumping into the lake. The water was crystal clear. You could see another perfect boulder field mirrored back at you from the surface which made the jump a little intimidating until you actually did it and realized it was waaaay deeper than you imagined. The water was so clear, so blue, so life giving. It was absolutely frigid, but on this day it seemed to inspire some sort of boyhood giddiness. We were all in a constant state of bewilderment at the powerful nature of our surroundings. We were kissed by the sun and rejuvenated by the water. It was dreamlike. A day you wish could last forever, and one that will soon not be forgotten. With Mt. Index at our backs, and a calm blue lake spread out before us the mood could only be described as positive, childish fun, and big kids laughing a lot. I know, not very articulate, but I don’t really have words to describe it, literally, you have to be there.
Sarah takes the plunge!
Greg decides to handle the crack in our apartment floor.
Serene.
Psicobloc in the Northwest.
Venga! Nick!
The storm approaches.
Day dreamer.
The sun began to dip behind the towering granitic peak of Mt. Index and we had had enough of the lake. We finally decided it was time to check out the bouldering. The boulder field I can only describe as a close resemblance to Chaos Canyon in RMNP. The rock is exactly the same, polished granite with green and yellow lichen, lazer cut edges, slopers, shelves, arêtes, overhangs, caves, face climbs, thin cracks, and a multitude of overhanging faces with barley enough holds to get to the top. I was blown away by the amount of rock, and the absolute potential this place holds. I saw a couple V.hard projects that would probably be some of Washington’s finest and hardest. Tall proud lines with bad landings, small overhung climbs with flat landings, the spectrum was in full effect. We had one crash pad so we looked for the least intimidating lines, with the softest landings. We had a great time on a few problems:
The first boulder of the trip, a sweet V.1 I called The Slide, because someone almost did take a slide off the backside.
Nick on the Slide with Mt. Index in the background.
Goodbye Erica!
The boulder field, this is only a small portion of the rock we saw that day.
Sarah on a brilliantly straightforward V.0 arete.
Greg wrangles the arete.
This had to be one of the cleanest lines I saw all day, a perfect seam with barley enough handholds and a clean face on both sides. Victory jugs at the top, but pulling on was super hard! Unfortunately all we could do was pull on.
A super aggressive V.3 Nick found. Great jug start to a cool pull over the lip.
Before you knew it, the clouds rolled in, the day’s atmosphere took a 180 and we were packed up and ready to hit the trail. Thunderclaps, bolts of lightening, and fat rain drops accompanied our hurried pace to the bottom. When we arrived at the car the storm had passed and we were back on the road, with a quick stop for Mexican food.
To sum it all up, the day was close to perfect and those don’t come along too often. I would have loved to have more of the crew there sharing in this wonderful place, but I know there will be more hot days to come, and this kind of activity never gets old.
I wish everyone a safe and productive trip to Squamish, and I might add I’m jealous I won’t be there!! Have fun guys.
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