Headlight Basin, Alpine Lakes Wilderness, WA State

by bluesboots on October 7, 2014

I’ve wanted to see the golden larches for several years, and this past weekend the weather was beautiful, so I went for it!! I packed up early Sunday morning and headed to north of Cle Elum, and hiked out to Headlight Basin on the Lake Ingalls trail. Wow! Once I came over Ingalls Pass and saw the larches down below, I knew the timing was perfect, the basin was gold with larches.

I pitched my tent overlooking the basin, with Mount Stuart as my backdrop, and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around taking photos of larches and mountain goats. Unfortunately, the goats were a little too comfortable with humans, and decided that it would be fun to hang out at my campsite. I had to “vacate the premises” several times – luckily they didn’t feel the need to eat or destroy any of my gear. They’re cute and fluffy, and were totally non-aggressive, but too close for comfort a few times and I had to leave and give them plenty of space.

Sunset was wonderful, the moon was almost full, and the wind was relentless! I didn’t sleep most of the night because of the wind, but at least it wasn’t too cold out. Sunrise again was beautiful, and lit up the larches like they were electric. Once again, my 3 goats decided to “visit” right as I was packing up my campsite and I had to leave for about half an hour while they checked things out … again no damage or interest in my gear, just liked the view, I guess.

Overall, an incredible 2 days spent in a very magical place 🙂