Exploring the Koots - 1001 - Plaid Lake

With the fine fall weather hanging around the Koots for a few days, we headed off to explore the trail to Plaid Lake in the hopes of finding more larches in fall color, and, of course, the views.

This being a "rest day" we caught the 8:10 ferry across the Lake, found the right FSR leading up behind Crawford Bay and headed up. The FSR had been partially deactivated which, around here, means big drainage trenches in the road, making a high clearance 4x4 vehicle pretty much the only way to negotiate the holes. In addition to being full of deep trenches, it was steep, so the old truck started to complain near the top. Interestingly, the highest part of the access road was the best, but we walked that bit.

The trail in to Plaid Lake was fine, although the trailhead is higher than the Lake. When we got to the trail downhill to the Lake, I was surprised when Catherine suggested we head up to a nearby ridge for the views rather than hike down to the lake. I guess she's arrived at that stage when she'd rather stand on top of a peak rather than sit by a lake. Who knew?

At the "pass" we were just below Mt Crawford, a prominent peak visible east of Crawford Bay. It's one I'll have to come back to scramble up on another trip.

A short traverse across a steep slope and we were on a minor ridge with views in all directions of the compass. It's always fun to identify all these other peaks, including ones you've been on recently. After some time snacking and resting in the sun, it was back down and off to home. We were surprised by the amount of traffic waiting for the ferry and luckily happened to be almost the last vehicle that made it on for the trip across the Lake.