Snow Lake Hike

 17 July 2014

C.J. and I have not done any hiking for a while so we thought we would start with something that was not too challenging. I thought it was a five-mile round trip but it turned out to be almost seven miles. The last several days have had temperatures in the 90's, much hotter than normal for the west side of the Cascades. [The east side is even hotter and getting hammered by wildfires.] Today was the first day forecast to have highs in the 70's.

C.J. and blooming beargrass on switchback

We got a reasonably early (for us) start from the trailhead at Alpental (3100 ft) at 0915. No snow along the steadily ascending trail until we reached the pass at 4400 ft. But the beargrass was blooming along with a small assortment of other wildflowers. From a boulder above the trail there was a great view of the lake with some ice and snow on the far end. We crossed several short, snowy sections of trail before reaching the toilet (a box with a cutout toiletseat-shaped cover over a deep hole) and several campsites near the lakeshore. At a trail junction (main trail / lake access) we walked down to the lake and then bumbled around trying to find our way back to the main trail on the maze of herd paths. Back on the main trail we found a good rock outcrop that jutted into the lake (4000 ft) and took a break for lunch (about 1215). After enjoying the sun and a cooling breeze, we continued on the trail up a short climb to the junction with the Gem Lake trail where the main trail continues way down  to the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River (1482 ft) That was our turnaround point and we began to retrace our route. So far we had met (or usually, been passed by) about a dozen day hikers, not bad for this very popular trail; now we began to encounter several small parties of backpackers, some with young children, heading in to find one of the few campsites near

Snow Lake and the pass

Snow Lake. Once we climbed back up to the pass, it was all downhill on the rocky trail. We were back at the parking lot around 1530 - six hours to do seven miles - we've definitely slowed down over the years. [Despite C.J.'s foot pain she sets a pace that I'm happy not to exceed.] On the way home we drove down the old "wagon trail" passing the trailhead for the Franklin Falls trail and Denny Creek campground. A stop at Swirl in North Bend for frozen yogurt helped us cool off, but we were both more than ready for a shower.

Map on kiosk at trailhead