Permit needed?

[gpc]

Ive always wanted to camp, hike and fish here. But Ive never wanted to go through the hassel of getting a permit. But is it even a hassel, how do I go about doing it and does it ever get so crowded they wont give yuo a permit. Or is a permit really even neccesary. Or do you even need a permit and Ive just heard wrong????

[bigastrout]

Where are you talking about?

[gpc]

The Alpine Wilderness Area

[bigastrout]

Go for it the permits are free at the trail head for hiking and camping. The only thing you need is a USFS Northwest Forest Pass to legaly park at the trail head if you absolutly don't want to pay for this you can park down the road a little farther and avoid this fee. I'm not sure of the exact distance from the parking area you need to be.
The pass is $5 a day or $30 a year. Its a small price to pay and it goes to good things. But I have been known to walk the extra distance though when the ranger station is closed or I was broke. Another important thing to think about in the Alpine lakes wilderness is there are no fires aloud above 5000' where most of the lakes are.

[littleriver]

At $30 the forest pass is cheap and you should get one before proceeding (it probably cost more in gas to get back and forth for one trip and the pass is good for a year) but I think this area is managed by the Wenatchee Forest folks and they like to put their little "pay $5 extra" boxes wherever they think they can get away with it....

Alpines lakes is a huge area though....


What specific areas are you interested in?? I've hiked into most of the lakes and high points there over the last
40 years or so....

bigastrout brought up a good point about fires...... The hiking trails here are heavily used by the granolas and by the horsers....

they are two totally different cultures... if you don't have a horse you will automatically be lumped with the granolas and you will be expected to do the things that granolas do...... one of those things is to use your small pack stove and not start a fire at any altitude.... the horsers start fires and fish... the granolas use the small white gas stoves but they don't fish, they tend more to climb the peaks and/or hang around the campsites looking outdoorsy and talking about the environment......


so get equipped properly before going or all you will remember about the trip is having to stare at a bunch of frowning faces....


this information should also be a key toward which lakes to target.....

In fact that's one of my strategies when looking for good fishing lakes in the Cascades (not just Alpine Lakes)... I used to seek out lakes that are farthest away from the trailhead... that doesn't work anymore...

what you're looking for now are lakes that are accessed by trails the horses can't or don't use.. if the horsers use a lake it's probably fished out..... if the granolas are the only ones who can get into it you will probably have good fishing because they tend not to fish.....


if you let me know which specific areas you are interested in I can provide a little more detail....