“In this world of ours, the sparrow must live like a hawk if he is to fly at all”—Hayao Miyazaki
Well, then. That’s kind of a tall order. I can't help but find similarities between that quote and hiking. If one never learns to climb, then one may never experience the view from the top. Ok, ok, let me put that in context. How about, once in a while, it is important to challenge yourself.
Sparrowhawk Tarns is a moderate hike with a lot of altitude change (2230ft/680m)—which is why we’ve avoided it in the past. I am so glad that we decided to suck it up and try it out.
Spray Lake Reservoir, from the trailhead.
We began the hike on an early Tuesday morning. The trail took us up a bike path that eventually forked off into a steeper, narrower trail past a creek, to just above the treeline.
A view of the creek from the trail.
Ascending above the treeline.
Then the real fun began. A talus slope, with giant boulders stood between us and the rocks and grasses above. The trail went around the boulders, but Dave and I decided it would be shorter to just climb straight up. So climb we did. It was really quite enjoyable.
We continued up through rocks and dryas and over a rib and found ourselves at the edge of the cirque. A sink lake appeared to the east of us. The tarns,(whichare formed by glacier runoff) were located towards the back the cirque. The grass was a vibrant green and looked like something from a Monty Python film. An alpine oasis nestled between mountain peaks.
The beginning of the cirque, looking down on Spray Lake.
View of the sink lake.
Sparrowhawk cirque
Dave's favorite time of day!
After a quick lunch, we headed back and saw a marmot lazily sunning himself on the rocks.
Lazy Mr. Marmot
Nice. Our descent was quick and relatively painless. The elevation change was doable, and the views were totally worth the effort. Not too bad for living like a hawk (heh,heh).