Alpine Lakes Wilderness Mission

What is the mission?

Put succinctly, the mission is to visit every named lake within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

Specifically, here are the rules:

• Official record: The lakes to be visited are those named on the 2016 edition of the US Forest Service topographic maps.
• Location: Each lake must be inside the Alpine Lakes Wilderness boundary, as defined by the 2014 expansion.
• Visit: A visit is defined as touching the water in the lake. If the lake is frozen, touching or standing on top of the frozen lake qualifies.
• Date: Only visits in 2020 or later are counted.
• Lake groups: If a group of lakes bear a single name (e.g. Park Lakes), it is desirable to visit all the lakes, but only required to visit one.

In my research, I have identified 297 lakes that qualify, of which 156 are on some sort of trail. They range in elevation from 1,900' to 7,800', and almost all are inaccessible in winter.

You can see the list of lakes and track my progress on the mission at the Hike-O-Meter page.

Why am I doing it?

I've hiked in and around the Alpine Lakes Wilderness all my life, along with other areas in Washington and Oregon. I started hiking at an early age with my brother and with my dad, who was an accomplished backpacker and and climber. Technical climbing isn't really my thing, but I really enjoy hiking and backpacking, and alpine scenery in general. 

In 2020, as I contemplated my retirement from a career in software development, I wanted to set a goal for myself that would:

• Get me back into shape physically and help me stay that way
• Allow me to learn about and explore the natural beauty around us in Washington State, and see as much of it as possible while I am able to do so
• Provide a fun and exciting activity to occupy my time

I've been inspired by many fine outdoor enthusiasts who have written about the Alpine Lakes Wilderness over the years, in particular the authors of the well-known 100 Hikes series, and the more recent Alpine Lakes Wilderness: The Complete Hiking Guide. As far as I know, no one has documented an adventure quite like I am planning!

Where did I get my data?

I started with this list of lakes in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness from Wikipedia. However, this list was not complete and also included some lakes that were not named on the official forest service map. It did give me a pretty good idea of the scale of the challenge I was contemplating.

I also wanted to collect some more information about each lake, such as the elevation, GPS coordinates, and whether or not the lake was accessible via a known trail.

I compiled a new list by visually inspecting the 2016 Forest Service topo map and recording all the named lakes and their relevant details. I use a variety of tools, but my primary means of inspecting maps is the CalTopo web application. Note that the 2016 map shows the old boundary for the ALW, before the 2014 expansion. Therefore, I had to use other sources to view the current boundary.

I made a few minor corrections to the aforementioned Wikipedia page, but have not made major edits or attempted to add new types of details for each lake. This is primarily because it is unclear what the universally accepted criteria should be for a "list of lakes in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness", and it's also unclear what types of sources would be valid for publishing this information in Wikipedia. Generally, original unpublished research like my inspection of topographic maps does not qualify.