Takhlakh Lake is situated 7.3 mile northwest of Mount Adams in the state of Washington. It is fed by a few small unnamed inflow creeks that are tributary to the Cispus River. Jason recently took the above photo of the lake with Mt Adams rising on the eastern shore. Notice the lenticular cloud on the upper left of the photo. I have many fond memories of camping at Takhlakh Lake when my sons were youngsters. Takh is a native American word meaning meadows. Takhlakh Lake is in a glacial depression carved during the last Ice Age. Just a mile or so north of the lake lays Takh Takh Meadow whose most interesting feature is a huge lava flow that oozed from Mt Adams only about 3500 years ago and stopped short, just north of the meadow. It sits there, a huge wall of jumbled rock towering into the sky. Jason, when just out of high school, purchased a switch blade knife while visiting Mexico and gave it to his brother as a gift. It was illegal to sell those knives in the United States at that time. Taylor loved that knife and brought it on his camping trip. While climbing around the lava flow he accidentally dropped it into a crevasse where it still lay hidden today, four decades later. We were unable to retrieve it in spite of every effort.




The following Friday I accompanied Jason and Annie to Takhlakh Lake spending a good part of the day exploring with them. I returned home that evening but Jason and Annie stayed on. On the trip there we stopped along the road to photograph Mt Adams to the east. Jason sent up his drone for a better view of the mountain.

to attack the drone when it lands on the ground.
We continued north following highway 35 which eventually turned to gravel. We came to Big Spring Creek and stopped for a few photos and to stretch our legs. The creek tumbles over a perky waterfall and vanishes through a culvert under the road.








In time we arrived at Takhlakh Lake. The weather was spitting raindrops and the overcast prevented us from seeing Mt Adams. At one point it did clear enough to at least see where the mountain was. In spite of that it was beautiful. Below are a few photos I took with my phone. After exploring the afternoon away it was soon time for me to head for home. Jason and Annie where staying on until Sunday.






The weather cleared for Jason the following days and he was able to get some beautiful photos. What a difference when the sun comes out. I really love the one he captured of the dark, brooding, forest. It is beautiful and frightening at the same time. Thank’s Jason for sharing your day. Seeing that area again was most enjoyable as was spending time with you and Annie. I had a pleasant drive winding my way home down the mountain roads. Other than a few hunters setting up camp at Takhlakh we encounter only a handful of people out exploring as we were.



