October 1, 2019

With three women, I hiked to Heather Lake near Stevens Pass, WA. Blueberries were wonderful.

"I have found garnets in the Wenatchee Mountains between 4,000 to 5,000-feet elevation," Karen said. "A nearby volcano erupted 'glass' that became garnets."

Over the years, I have hiked to Heather Lake annually. Always forget how steep it is. We hiked 7 miles round trip with 1,350 feet of elevation gain. The trail starts easy, then turns into a long, extremely steep climb up and over a high ridge.

Halfway up, Karen, 71, became dizzy and exhausted with a headache. She resisted my help. I offered to strap her pack to mine or take some weight from her pack. "No."

"You have signs of heat exhaustion," I said. "Please stop and sit down. You never drink enough water. What else is going on?" It was hot in the sun.

Karen sat while I fanned her. She mixed electrolyte replacement powder into her water bottle and drank it. With low blood sugar, she also needed food. So, Karen ate a vegan "sausage." In a few minutes, she felt better. (NOTE: In October 2020, I learned Karen has high blood pressure and had several tiny strokes. She refuses medicine for it.)

As usual, Karen ran out of water. "I don't need water on the descent," she said, then, "Does anyone have extra water?" when we got the car. Since I carry 2-3 liters of ice water (heavy), I filled her water bottle. We had a long drive home.

Turns out Karen's new, newfangled 'straw' water purifier did not fit into her water bottle.

"We climbed up this?" I marveled on the wickedly steep descent.

We were bedeviled by aggressive deer flies. I am the only one who did not get fly bites. The other women were in shorts and T-shirts. To keep bugs off, I wore long pants and a long-sleeve shirt. Also gleefully waved around a kerchief as I hiked. Take that, flies! At the lake, it was windy enough to keep bugs off.

Looking for garnets, Julie and Karen stumbled into a hornet’s nest in mud around the bend. Both they and their dogs got stung. They turned down my offer of Benadryl. Poor dogs!

They returned with the largest garnets Karen has ever seen.

Photos:

Garnets Karen found over the years. Original condition (not polished).

Karen strained sand between her fingers to find garnets and swam in Heather Lake. Too cold for me!