Twelve months of visits to a mountain lake tells more than twelve tales. The solitude found during a Wednesday in the winter is completely different than the chaos found on a Saturday in the summer. The seasons make one set of changes. We make the other. The combination produces a much more interesting set of experiences that can't be revealed in one visit or in a page of some guidebook.

Lake Valhalla is perched along the high, rugged crest of the Cascade Mountains. It is wrapped within the Glacier Peak Wilderness and sits along the Pacific Crest Trail. Getting there in the summer can be as easy as a walk. Getting there in the winter can be adventurous and dangerous.

The lake sits along a series of borders: wilderness and civilization, open alpine meadows and thick forests, the wet Puget Sound region and the dry half of Washington state. Dayhiking families and thousand-mile through-hikers visit, mix, and tell different stories.

Twelve months of visits to a mountain lake tells more than twelve tales. The solitude found during a Wednesday in the winter is completely different from the chaos found on a Saturday in the summer. The seasons make one set of changes. We make the other. The combination produces a much more interesting set of experiences that can't be revealed in one visit or in a page of some guidebook.

Merritt Lake hides on the east side of the Cascade Mountains, between the crest of the range that partly protects it from Pacific storms, and halfway to the deserts and cities of Central Washington. The lake is protected by Nature more than legislation, within a land that is punctuated by avalanches and forest fires. Luckily, it is even better at producing quiet, serene moments.

Nature's residents range from rodents to raptors, and from delicate flowers to massive pine forests. Most of us drop by for peacefulness, exercise, fishing, or adventure, but some build campfires while forests burn, or fire guns during busy weekends.

Get to know the fuller, richer story that so few of us take the opportunity to experience.

Twelve months of visits to a mountain lake tells more than twelve tales. The solitude found during a Wednesday in the winter is completely different than the chaos found on a Saturday in the summer. The seasons make one set of changes. We make the other. The combination produces a much more interesting set of experiences that can't be revealed in one visit or in a page of some guidebook.Barclay Lake sits about an hour northeast of Seattle on the soggy side of the Cascade Mountains. It is an easy hike within challenging terrain and is one of those rare places where the extremes of hiking can be found. Families can camp with kids and climbers can assault rocky spires.Different experiences give people different points of view. It is no wonder that debates about the environment and land-use are so complex and confusing. Barclay Lake is one place where those various points of view meet and conflict.