September 18, 2023 - David & Beau, A Short Trip

An Adventure With Beau & Jimmy Deal (JD) - Black Pine Lake, WA

Black Pine Lake, North Cascades, WA

When I last stayed with JD in August at his cabin up in the Okanagan, just before going up to meet Runningbird at Manning Park BC, we had talked about finding a spot that wasn't too far from home where we could meet, spend some time with our trailers, fish, play cribbage, drink beer, and just hang out. So now, a month after Peggy finishing the PCT, Beau and I ventured up to Black Pine Lake to meet JD and his dog Lizzy. It's a spot JD's dad use to take him to when he was young (not that he's old now or anything, but actually he is. Older than me anyway). It's at about 4,000 feet and not too far from Methow. When we arrived at the lake there was no one else at the NF campground lakeside but it was mid-week.

JD had hauled his two quads up there and I took a couple of kayaks up there. It was fairly cold up there considering the time of year (mid-September) so we bundled up and went for a short ride on the quads. It was fun riding around of the forest roads but not really my "thing", especially in the cold. The sun came out in the afternoon and warmed things up a bit. It was too windy on the lake for the kayaks so we took a couple of camp chairs, beers, a book, and fishing gear and walked down to the small pier on the lake and got comfortable. Eventually JD reeled in one good sized trout but that was all the lake would give up so we cut our losses and headed back up the hill to our rigs to get warm. We eventually got the blood going again and took the dogs out for a walk part way around the lake to a spot with a great view of the higher Cascade Mountains. I could see where this would be a really nice place to camp in the warmer weather, but everyone else probably thinks that too.

I cooled off even more in the evening and we had dinner in doors and settled for a night of cribbage and reminiscing about our days at work together and how glad we were to be retired. During the night it rained hard and in the morning everything was soaked. There was a beautiful mist on the lake and the hills we had view in the evening were now topped with snow and the weather app showed there was more to come. The road down was steep enough that we didn't want to take a chance of getting stuck up there by snow so we cut the adventure short. Life in the Northwest!

Black Pine Lake Campground