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The hike to Ypsilon was uneventful. It was new territory for me, but Sandy had been on the trail numerous times. From Chipmunk Lake to Ypsilon Lake is downhill all the way, which means it is uphill on the way back. Late in the day this is not appealing to me, but it doesn't go on too terribly long.
Ypsilon is a pretty lake & a worthy destination in it's own right. We toook a break here, then headed off into the relative unknown. Sandy had wandered around on the way to Spectacle years before but didn't remember a whole lot of it, so she was pretty useless.
The outlet streams from both Chiquita & Spectacle Lakes combine & flow into one which feeds into Ypsilon Lake. The route to Spectacle is up the right side of the stream - which is actually a decent sized flowing waterfall just prior to flowing into Ypsilon. The route to Chiquita is up the left side. Either way is very steep initially. I can't speak for the route up to Chiquita beyond that, but the route up to Spectacle does level off fairly nicely after some inital climbing through the woods. There is more than one route heading up from Ypsilon. We took a way marked roughly by cairns that followed closely to the stream. It was a climbing route in several spots initally. Once it started climbing out of the trees the views opened & the terrain was pretty fun.
Looking back from where we came
Then things got interesting. Everything I had read about going to Spectacle Lakes described climbing up wet rocks by a waterfall. That's definitely an option. The "trail" split into 2 ways at this junction. One group of cairns heading in the direction of the waterfall, & another group heading fairly far to the left of the waterfall, which went up a series of slabs. We chose the slabs, & if I was doing this hike again, I would definitely choose to still do it this way.
At first the slabs weren't bad at all. Not too steep & plenty of hand & foot holds. We moved fairly quickly & didn't really realize what we were geting in to until we kind of looked around & realized we were in a very steep area with limited hand & foot holds. We backtracked a bit & started seriously looking around trying to find a route up these suckers. We would go for awhile, realize the way we were going wasn't going to work anymore, then stop & look for another route. This went on for quite awhile. Sandy managed to make her way all the way to the top. She found a better route than I did. I got caught up in a spot I couldn't get out of. I was about 6 inches from the next handhold, & it was too steep to backtrack. Sandy was already at the top & fortunately was able to sit on a rock above me, stick out her foot, & I was able to pull myself up with it. I needed her to do this one more time, then I was on the top as well. I wasn't ever scared. I thought it was really cool. I enjoyed climbing the slabs, just like I enjoyed climbing the cliffs on our Forest Canyon adventure. The only thing is that it really takes it out of me physically. It's pretty exhausting.
Sandy on the terrain before the slabs
At the beginning of the slabs
The steep part of the slabs
Once we got to the top of the slabs, we were able to cross the stream/waterfall on some large rocks that we thought might have been the "crux" that we had heard about. Ha! What we crossed was a piece of cake compared to what I discovered on the way down. But more on that later. After crossing the waterfall, we then went through a flat rocky area with small little streams. There is one final push up to the lakes that goes past another waterfall. This one is easy though & climbs on a section of rocks before topping out at the lakes.
Sandy on the final push of rocks up to the lake
Final waterfall just before the lake
Continued.....
