Enos Lake



We had been warned that this was a long hard hike
so we were at the trail head at day break
excited and ready to go!!

 

Dave Hoffman, a friend of Rob's from California
flew to  McCall, just for the hike
He had prepared for every detail, dehydrated
food, a scale to weigh our packs, two
hiking poles, sleeping pad, etc., etc.

Each man carried EXACTLY 65 Lbs.
Lindy got to pack the dehydrated food
and a few cooking necessities--30 Lbs. max

Before noon we were right on schedule.  After eating lunch at Twin Loon Lakes, having a short rest,  refilling our water bottles, we headed onward.  By 2 o'clock it was pretty obvious we were lost, with two engineers trying to read forest service maps, both insisting they were right, each wanting to go in different directions with no trail in sight, I  began to think we should turn back and spend the night at Hum Lake, which we had passed a hour or so earlier.  We hiked for another two hours, it was past the time we should have arrived at the lake and we had ran out of water.  Before this point Lindy had a "Melt Down" and told Rob "You shouldn't have bought me here",  he responded "I would carry you if I could, but I can't". He was so serious, NOW IS THAT NOT TRUE LOVE?  All three of us were ready to turn back, just as we spotted what seemed to be a trail, and sure enough it was.  We shortly came to a spring (which Ron Dean, had told Rob was the last place to refill water before reaching the Lake).  It was pretty much bubbling up mud and jointly we decided this must not be the spring Ron had told us about, but that it was still up head.  It was NOT and for the next three hours we hiked without water.  Our mouths became sticky and we were all tired and miserable. Then we came over a ridge and their it was Lake Enos, which really is a cluster of  four lakes.  Rejoicing we headed DOWN to Lake Enos



It was just like we had started another hike
It was steep and extremely difficult
I humbly admitted Dave's walking poles
were an excellent purchase

   



It seemed there was no way down
We literally wedged ourselves down this mountain side
It took us well over another hour to reach the first lake
After making fun of  Dave for his over preparation,
I offered him $1,000 for his hiking poles
He graciously let me use one

Finally, we had arrived--
 it was just before dark
We were thirsty, exhausted and grateful
THE HIKE HAD TAKEN US ELEVEN HOURS

Now, we had to pick out a campsite and
get camp set up before dark

The men pitched the tents and I boiled some water
for a nutritious dinner of  "Top Ramen" yak...

It was more than worth it
The fishing was great
All four Lakes Beautiful
And a Once in a Lifetime Experience
Because we'll never go back!!



We spent three nights, hiked out in 8 hours
dirty, totally spent and each lossing five pounds
a good weight loss program