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I write this trip report to help future hikers to avoid missing a key trail and throw a (hopefully subtle) light on a true gem of a high lake. Alas the pics I intended to include can't be oriented correctly for this report so you will have to use your imagination.
On the second matter first, I visited Lone Eagle cirque via Cascade Falls for the first time a few weeks ago after anticipating it for many years. I found it to indeed be one of the most beautiful places; perhaps exceeding Chicago Basin. Yet I now favor Shelf Lake because of its unique characteristic of having an inflow which is a broad set of, well, shelves of rock with waterfalls. The slabs are wide and level allowing one to explore the range of falls, with clumps of wildflowers framing them. In selecting this hike I was focusing on ascending Thatchtop from the south with no clue that this lake would be special. By contrast, the “word is out” on Mirror and Crater lake on the west side of IPWA. While the numbers of visitors does not detract from the beauty of those lakes or impair the amazing reflection of Lone Eagle, still it does not feel as special as Shelf Lake.
Now about that first matter, finding the trail. It branches off of Glacier creek to ascend 1k' to Shelf lake. But it is obviously not maintained or well marked, and easy to miss. The cost of not finding it is about an hour of bushwhacking up a very steep slope. To add to that challenge there are large rock walls you will need to address on the ascent. On the other hand if you find it you will have merely a steep trail, albeit with some downed trees and a bit hard to follow in places, which should take you only about 40 min with much less exertion.
My son and I were well prepared to find it. So how did we miss it? We had the route description, an app on my phone that showed our position on a topo map, and even a gpx file on his expensive running watch! Well here is my 20/20 hindsight on the matter. We were to look for an avalanche cleared area. Well, I think we did not start thinking about that soon enough after Jewel lake. I realized that if I had been looking up the
east slope as well as the west slope I would have seen the clearing down that steep slope. Now to the second error in my ways. I was thinking that we’d clearly see Shelf creek coming from the west, and we were to stay on the north side. Well, topos are many years old in most cases, and creeks can be more or less prominent than when the map was made, or even change routes down a hillside. So we kept going until we started to see some small creeks coming down and my app showed we were near the creek as shown on the topo. Well....it turns out the trail is not
next to a creek at all! When I read to stay on the north
side I was thinking “side” like “next to”; wrong. Indeed we did not see a single prominent creek coming down anywhere, instead several small ones. The third “red herring” was the gpx file we were using, which showed the trail about where my app was showing the creek on the topo. Well I guess “your gps precision may vary”. In any case, I suppose we should hope the park does not work too hard on the trail or in a couple years the gem of a lake will be crowded.
I might as well say a couple words about the south slope of Thatchtop from Solitude Lake. It’s 1100 feet vertical in a short distance and pretty much featureless. But the rocks are just the right size for easier travel than many steep slopes. They are solid and there are no patches of dirt to slip on. Of course there is a little bit of the usual false summit annoyance. But in an hour you can be on top. The awesome views of Spearhead, Longs, Pagoda, Chief’s Head, Arrowhead, McHenry’s, and Powell are the reward.
Enjoy!
And only tell your best friends about Shelf lake.
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