Skinny Dipping at Kula Kula & Defiance to Boot

Since my wife and kids were still in Utah and I was a bachelor all week, I decided to try to sneak in a quick overnighter. I was a bit bummed though, I had left my D70 with my wife in Utah, so she could take pics of the kids with Grandparents, and my daughter Kiah had taken my point and shoot with her to camp, so all I would have was my crappy camera phone.



None-the-less, before work on Monday I threw minimal gear in my pack and after work I dialed into my last meeting from the freeway. I stopped at GI Joes to grab a freeze dried dinner, some DEET and fuel. I wanted to do a loop somewhere but wasn't quite sure where, as I drove past North Bend I was still not sure where, but settled on something above Mason Lake.

I dropped off exit 45 and was at the trail head by 6pm. I motored up the trail and was at the Bandera Mountain cut off by 7. The bear grass on Bandera was amazing, the entire mountain was covered with 1000's of of them and their sweet fragrance was palpable. I quickly made the last ridge and left the sound of I-90 behind as I dropped down into Mason Lake. I wasn't planning on staying at Mason and was headed for Lake Kula Kula. I took the crossed the outlet of Mason and took the left on the main trail. Somewhere I missed the rest of the main trail and ended up passing a small puddle and at Little Mason Lake. I bushwhacked up the hillside and the drainage into Little Mason until I hit the Mt. Defiance trail. I then headed east down the trail looking for a trail to Kula Kula. Before I came to the main trail junction for Mason Lake (at least as it showed on the map, I never saw it) there was a faint trail leading left so I took it. Unfortunately this trail leads pretty much straight down a mossy slope of rock and root entangled mess, it was slippery even in the dried state. Next you come to a boulder field, with rocks the size of small cars. This ends at Little Lake Kula Kula (its not named on the map) which is just below 4000 feet and did have a camp ring with evidence of a campfire. I made my way around the left hand side of Little Kula Kula and then down a fairly gradual slope, at the point I could see Lake Kula Kula and ran across some flaggers tape, which as far as I could tell really only meant that someone else had stumbled through this brush before me and left their mark :)

The "trail" approaching the lake was solid brush (though thankfully not Devil's Club) and I exited at the Lake on a small granite shelf that continued into the water were you could see the edge lipping off into the deep dark water of the lake. Kula Kula is quite a large lake that sits on the eastern edge of Mt. Defiant with steep cliffs and the talus slopes of Defiant ending at its western shore. There could have been flatter better campsites further around the eastern shore of the lake, but I really didn't feel like fighting the brush so I decided to camp on the rock. There was one small problem, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs. Thousands of them, everywhere. Swarming all over me. I quickly grabbed the deet and slathered some on me while doing the "bug dance" (jumping up and down, waving your arms, twirling and blowing bugs off your nose, lips and shoulders with your mouth, anything to keep moving and the bugs at bay for 30 milliseconds). I threw down my bivy sack, threw in my pad and bag and poured a couple of cups of water in the JetBoil and fired it up. I decided to cool off in the Lake while my water was boiling. Stripping quickly I dove into the water. The granite shelf and shallow water were actually warm, though I could feel the thermocline as I went a bit deeper in the water. I only had time to jump in three times before my water was boiling. Still doing the bug dance I poured the water into my MountainHome Chili Mac and Beef and jumped in my bivy sack, zipping the netting over me. After 9 minutes I ate my rehydrated food scrunched over like an animal with the bugs at bay. By then it was 9pm, I read a little bit and feel asleep around 9:30.

I had set my alarm for 4 am and woke the next morning as the pre-dawn slowly began to light up the sky (I love living in the pacific north west!), the bugs were still in bed so I quickly got up and put some more water on to boil and made me some hot chocolate and oatmeal. I quickly broke camp and slurped down my food. The bugs wake up around 4:45 am, so quickly slathered on the Deet as I finished cleaning up and by 5 am I was climbing back up to the Mt. Defiant trail. On the way back of Little Kula Kula above the Boulder field, if you stay to the right there is a much gentler slope back to the Defiant trail, its a little further west on the trail then the faint one I took down, I wish I had some flaggers tape, but I did mark it on my GPS. I decided to try to knock off Defiant before heading into work so I dropped my pack on the trail, took my water, GPS (for logging the mileage) and my camera and plodded up towards the summit. The wild flowers on the slope of Defiant were in full bloom and beautiful to behold. I was on the top by 6:30 and the best part was the nice stiff breeze that blew, no BUGS! I could see Kula Kula, Little Mason Lake, Mason Lake, Rainbow Lake, Blazes Lake and Island Lake, the views were great. I quickly headed back to my pack, trundled past Mason and slow jogged down the trail, back to my car and went into work where I showered and made my 9:30 meet, not a bad way to start the day at all.

www.flickr.com Mark Griffith's Lake Kula Kula photoset

Stats

2444 ascend
889 descend
2 hour 29 minutes

1962 ascend
3543 descend
3 hours

12.04 miles