# Light Weight at Waptus



## Trails (Jan 28, 2009)

Over the past weekend we went into Waptus Lake in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Only about 10 miles from the Salmon La Sac trailhead and or the Cayuse Horse Camp it’s an easy, albeit a rocky, ride through the river valley to the lake.











The horse camp on the north side of the lake made for a comfortable if somewhat lacking in views spot for the night. A highlight was the huge buck deer that wandered into camp. With at least 5 points on each side he was quite the sight as he and the horse checked each other out!


The next time we venture into Waptus we’ll take a little more time to find a better camp spot, perhaps on the east end where the ground is flatter and maybe we can enjoy the glorious views of the Dutch Miller Gap a little longer. Since stock have to be kept at least 200 feet from the lake it’s a little bit of a challenge to find a good spot to set up a highline. 











As always you can click here for more details and to see many more pics.

Next up is a trip to the Goat Hole where we’ll do another overnight using the ultra light weight horse camping principles that we’re working on for an upcoming book. 

BTW- the total weight on each horse, exclusive of saddle and rider, for this trip was 21 pounds. If we weren't packing in feed for them it would have been 13 pounds.


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## Nokota (Jan 6, 2011)

Great pics. Glad you had a good time. Looking forward to fall around here to do some of the same kind of camping.


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## Bearkiller (Aug 10, 2011)

*Washington*

I miss Washington, alot. I was born and raised in Eatonville, near Mt. Rainier. Utah has some scenery but nothing like one gets to see in the cascades.


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

Beautiful scenery!


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