Wonderland Series: Golden Lakes Virtual Cache
Wonderland Series: Golden Lakes
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(virtual)
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Miles vary depending on approach, 10 miles one way from Mowich Lake Campground, no small children, no bikes. Ultra day hike; best as weekend trip or as a through hiker. Overnight backcountry camping permit required. Strenuous Level, hazardous river crossing when bridge is out.
Wonderland Series: Golden Lakes Virtual Cache
As a Wonderland through hiker approaching clockwise from Longmire, this cache will be fairly easy. But for those not making the 34 mile trip along the west side, you can still reach Golden Lakes via Mowich Lake. You can do an ultra hike and travel the 20+ round trip miles all in one day, or you can hike up to Golden Lakes, spend a beautiful evening camping there, and then return home the next day. This makes for a nice weekend trip. This is a strenuous hike, requiring significant elevation loss and gain. From Mowich Lake, you will drop 2300 feet in less than 4 miles to reach the North Mowich River. After crossing the North and South Mowich Rivers (may have to do a difficult ford of South Mowich if bridge is out), you then regain 2400 feet in elevation before reaching the Colonnade Ridge. There are approximately 32 switchbacks on this steep section.
To claim this cache you MUST: Prove you were there by posting a photograph of yourself at the Golden Lakes Camp sign. You can post other photos as well. Because this is such a difficult hike, any logs without photographic documention will be deleted. Why would you hike up to a beautiful location and not take a camera?
As mentioned before, placement of physical caches within National Park boundaries is against Federal Law. Physical caches, log books, etc, will be removed by the Park Service.
Have a fun trip.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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