Lads Annual Hiking Trip – Eaton Lake (Skagit Valley Road)

Every year the boys do a hike in camping trip. Previous years have seen us going to Assiniboine and Garibaldi Lake. 

This year we lost Roffy to a broken ankle but added Matt, Oscar, Shahin and Sep (joining Jay, Navid and I). Initially we had planned to hike and camp up at Watersprite Lake but I have heard multiple reports that it is very busy and a literally shit show. Thus we decided to head further afield. Back in April when we had camped on the Skagit Valley Road we noticed a trail head to Eaton Lake. After some googling and seeing how pretty it was I decided to move the trip to Eaton Lake aka a more secluded lake.

The trailhead is about 16km down the Skagit Valley Road (about 5km after Silver Lake). The hike itself was intense, carrying 40lb bags hiking 1000m elevation over just 6km (average gradient was around 22°) which took about 3 hours (2h 30 of active moving time). It was tough, I struggle with steeper climbs with pains in my left calf. But the view was more than worth it. Such a beautiful lake with a grand total of 12 people on the lake (of which we were 7. We could camp right on the lake.

That night we ate like kings (dehydrated camping food) whilst each person brought a bottle of spirit to share with the group. So we had 2 types of rum, 2 types of whiskey, a scotch and a tequila.

The next morning, after a rubbish nights sleep (cold air coming off the lake mean’t it was COLD) we headed down. This time I was in my element (I can descend with no pain as others feel the burn) and Shahin and I got down in roughly 1hr 22mins.

A great trip with a great group