We had quite the hike on Defiance last night - and quite the swim! As a rather large group, we split and took both of the paths on the way up (ridge / valley). The lake water was surprisingly warm so Mark, Jason and I jumped in for a good 5 minutes of splashing around. The bottom of that lake is pretty dark in color, which must help tremendously with warming the water since it is well warmer than I would ever expect an alpine lake to be. It was also, once again, rather buggy, so it was on towards the top.
Past the swimming point we all promptly lost the trail and thrashed through some low brush towards the ridge until finding the cross trail which runs to the Defiance summit. This hike is always longer than I remember, and it was 8:10 before the first folks popped up on top. The mosquitos were already there waiting in clouds (why is this summit always buggy??). The sun turned a nice deep red as it dropped through the smog over Seattle at a depressingly early 8:30 and then it was time to leave the summit and figure out where everyone had ended up. We re-connected with Heath on the Talus fields below the lake, but Don beat the system by taking a short-cut to the summit and coming off after the rest of us had left. Eventually we all straggled out the valley trail around 10:30. Very nice hike, but will have to make that one earlier in the season next year since it's always a bit longer than I remember.
Next week: There's still a few hikes we haven't hit for the season, and despite the fading light, it's time for All images and content on these
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