RE: alpine lakes backpack hunting
I'm assuming you mean the wilderness area east of Seattle. I used to backpack a lot in there in my nonhunting days in the mid-1990s. I've hiked a lot of ground between Stevens and Snoqualmie passes. I never saw a really big muley, although certain locations had good populations. Elk are very scattered, and I think you have to draw a special tag to shoot a non-spike bull. But there was always a monster bull or two in one drainage I loved to hike in. I voice cowcalled a 320 class bull into camp one morning and couldn't get him to leave!