I was woken briefly at around 5am to a small passing
thunderstorm before falling back to sleep for a few more hours. Lucky for us,
when we woke up around 930, the rain had stopped and we quickly packed up camp
before things got wet.
After saying our goodbyes, we headed east, picking up
supplies and gassing up in Yakima. We turned north, traveling through
territory we’d only seen once or twice in our life
We grabbed a delicious lunch at Campus U-Tote-Em in
Ellensburg then continued northward. We checked out a few scenic viewpoints
along the way but mostly stuck to driving on hwy 97.
We got fuel in Omak before turning NW onto Pine Creek road, crossing over |HILLS| into Sinlahekin Valley. It was
a beautiful valley with spectacular vistas overlooking many lakes, sandwiched
between huge mountains.
Eventually we got to Loomis, where we headed uphill to
Chopaka Lake. Touted as one of the premier trout lakes in Washington, it takes
a bit of work to get there, with the road clinging to a steep mountainside as
it climbs over 1,000 feet in the first mile. The road continues to climb as it
weaves through the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest on its way to the lake.
I was utterly surprised at how many people were camped at
the lake on a Sunday night. At least 20 other groups were camped in the
side-by-side BLM and USFS campgrounds. We choose the FS campground because of the picnic tables. Another thing
that surprised me was the abundance of bird life at Chopaka Lake. I’d never
personally witnessed so many different birds in such a small area before. The
evening air was alive with the calls of different species. Truly amazing!
This was the last night we’d really be able to see the stars
and boy were they spectacular. The combination of high elevation and us being
far from any light pollution mean we could easily see the milky way and other
normally invisible stars.
We also had our first MRE’s that I’d pack. The first meals
were satisfactory and novelty was pretty great. That would definitely wear off
soon enough…
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