We set off from Seattle around 7 am and were on the trail a little after 10 am. The weather was probably close to perfect for this adventure as it's 100% exposed with no shade anywhere. We started at The Ancient Lakes TH on the north side of the area, just off Rd T NW, and headed counter-clockwise towards Judith Pool, then down past the beautiful waterfalls to Ancient Lake and continued around from there. We had numerous backtracks and took pictures at every lake so there's a lot of room to better this time. But you'll be hard-pressed to have more fun than we did!
Our route to Flat Lake was an adventure. With the route we were using we were unable to fund a trail out to it and as a result, spent a fair amount of time reed-stomping and looking for a place to touch the lake. I'm sure a more efficient route can be found, but again this was part of the adventure for us.
We carried all our food and water. There are quite a few toilets on the "upper" part of the lakes, those connected more by roads. We can see this becoming more difficult as the weather warms up. With no shade and the typically high temps in the summer, the conditions could really have an impact on someone.
All that being said, this was a lot of fun. Can't wait to see the next mixed-gender team get through this and lower our time!
--Rachel Dam and Anson Fatland