[timberghost]

Mark perhaps you could be their guide!!

[mtn.climber]

I'd be down for a summertime trip. It was a place that Derek (Rocknclimb) always wanted to visit. Would do it in his honor

[Downhill]

I have been visiting Lk. Victoria frequently for over 30 years. The first few times, many years ago, there was really no discernible trail and finding the way with the least amount of bushwhacking and route finding was challenging. I even experimented with alternate approaches including the left side of the drainage and following the drainage directly. These were definitely poor choices, but interestingly I found an old campsite in the drainage just below the band of rock slabs that separates the lower drainage from the upper. The current trail location on hillside north of the drainage was difficult 20 years ago first due to heavy logging slash and then later it changed again after the fire that burned the lower and middle sections of the route. For a while, there was a faint bootpath that would split into several and then get lost frequently in the snowbrush on the lower 3rd, and then the dreaded steep "pick-up sticks" of fire blowdowns in the middle 3rd. In the first 20 years of going there, I never saw another person car-to-car. Recently, things have changed, like everywhere else. I have been to Victoria 4 of the past 5 years and I have seen other parties each time (even mid-week), once as many as 5 other parties. The bootpath is well-worn all the way from the dirt road to the boulders just shy of the lake, so it really doesn't require much route finding, certainly nothing like 10-15 years ago. It seems like it would be nearly impossible to lose the path now if you're paying attention. With the route finding made easier it doesn't change the fact that it is sitll a difficult, athletic, and to many, miserable approach.

[zimmertr]

I think this is exactly the problem with treating lakes as as a secret place and discouraging others from sharing information about it. It creates an enigma about it that only further exacerbates intrigue. I myself went because it was a secret place. People who care about keeping places like this wild would be better off talking about, or even exaggerating, how difficult it is to get there. Ida is a perfect example because it's a nice place but definitely not a top 50 Washington lake lol. But the effort in getting there is high.

[Tom]

lol wut? Lake Ida has never been a sekrit lake. The only reason someone said anything was you felt compelled to post gps tracks, unrequested, to this and a couple other destinations. Whatever your views on discretion, feel free to do that in your own TR, or separate topic.

[zimmertr]

[Tom]

Lake Ida? I did a search here and only see 1 other post of yours, and don't see anyone trying to shush. If you anticipated the push back to posting GPS tracks to off trail destinations, why blame anyone else for exacerbating intrigue, isn't that on you? I don't think anyone would necessarily object to mentioning other destinations, and letting someone figure it out for themselves. If that leads to Streisand Effect, that's on whomever.

[zimmertr]

[Tom]

Not too concerned and won't bother to reply to the arguments presented, other than to say my views have evolved over time, and I'm sure your perspective will change as well.

[babylero]

I went up there in winter a few years ago to climb Cashmere. It's a mid lake as the kids say. I don't see much point in going there in the summer given the approach, but it was beautiful in the winter. I don't recall any issue finding TH because I just started walking up hill on snow till I got to the lake following the path of least resistance.

[Downhill]