Information about this hike provided in partnership with
Mountaineers Books.
Copyright © Dan A. Nelson/The Mountaineers Books American Lake
Featured In:
Day Hiking: Snoqualmie Region,
by Dan A. Nelson and Alan L. Bauer.
A portion of all book sales from the links above benefits WTA and helps protect and maintain our trails. This hike starts as does to Dewey Lake. Follow a connector trail on the south side of the highway for 1.5 miles to its junction with the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). Stunning alpine meadows and scenic panoramas unfold along this section of trail, setting high expectations for the rest of the hike. The Naches Peak Loop goes left at the junction. Turn right (south) instead, and descend 600 feet in the next 1.3 miles, passing through old, sun-dappled pine and fir forest to reach a small forest clearing on the northwest shore of Dewey Lake. From the southeast end of the lake the trail rolls gently south, cutting through huge expanses of huckleberry meadows--excellent places to savor the essence of pine forest. Just be aware that hungry bears also like to gobble the juicy fruit. You'll reach Anderson Lake at 5 miles. The trail then climbs gently for the next mile, rolling along the western flank of a small unnamed peak (elev. 5982 ft) before reaching the junction with the American Ridge Trail at 6 miles. Continue east along the ridge for about 1 mile to American Lake, where you'll enjoy more huckleberry fields and scenery that includes a rocky pinnacle to the south and the deep valley of the American River to the north.
Driving Directions:
From Enumclaw drive east on State Route 410 (Chinook Pass High-way) to Chinook Pass. Park on the north side of the highway in the Tipsoo Lake parking area. Cross to the south side of the highway to find the start of the trail. Recent Trip Reports
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Overnight
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Bugs
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Hiked from Tipsoo Lake/Naches Peak Loop trail to American Lake via the Dewey Lake trail, Pacific Crest Trail. We had...
Hiked from Tipsoo Lake/Naches Peak Loop trail to American Lake via the Dewey Lake trail, Pacific Crest Trail. We had gorgeous weather and the wildflowers were amazing! I couldn't have asked for more! The hike is a bit more strenuous than the statistics would have you believe. The ups and downs are steeper than I expected so the total elevation gain was substantially more than the 1500' difference from start to finish. I would rather have spent a resting day at the lake than hiked back out the very next day. It was so pretty and that would have been easy to do. Muskitoes and flies were out, but I used dryer sheets (in my pockets - someone told me it would work) and bug spray and I escaped fairly unharmed by them. There is one downed tree to cross over just after Dewey lake, but it is easy to pass over. No snow!
Overnight
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
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Hit the PCT/Trail # 2000 from Chinook Pass at approximately 8:30 A.M. The parking lot was surprisingly empty. ...
Hit the PCT/Trail # 2000 from Chinook Pass at approximately 8:30 A.M. The parking lot was surprisingly empty. The trail was quiet as was most my trip. Passed a handful of day hikers presumably circling Naches Peak and then chatted up a couple at Dewey Lake. Beyond Dewey, trail was all mine with the exception of a family of 5 exiting from my destination American Lake. Past Anderson Lake be sure to look back due north west, views of Rainer will not disappoint.
Made it to American Lake by Noon. I set up camp on the south side of the lake, seclude from the camps by the trail. Heads up, several previous sites are currently closed for a much need break to aid in revegetation. Enjoyed sun breaks for most the early afternoon. Took a nap, then awoke to the excitement of a young boy who caught a fish. His family sounded equally as enthusiastic. Strong work guys, I’m sure that fresh trout was yummy. So far as I could tell none of the other campers had any luck. All in all just three camps including my own. Answering the calls of some Marmots I decide for a late afternoon scramble up to the saddle below the unnamed peak to the south east of American Lake. These critters were awfully talkative. By ear and by my nose I followed a game trail up above the tree line. Spotted three Marmots in total. One was particularity large and not bashful in the least. The views down to American Lake were quite nice, equally as stunning was the vista over Cougar Lakes. A sunset with dramatic cloud cover and a big bright moon made for a lovely evening in camp. Sunday was a morning of mist and clouds. The air was fresh and the wild flowers glistened with dew. No views to be had other than a couple of deer just before Anderson Lake. This is a lovely hike with a good variety of scenery and minimal elevation gains.
American Lake, Tipsoo Lake-Naches Peak Loop
— Aug 08, 2010
— 52mpg
Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Snow on trail | Bugs
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Did Chinook Pass/Tipsoo Lake to American Lake via PCT #2000 past Naches Peak, Dewey Lake and Andersen Lake, to American...
Did Chinook Pass/Tipsoo Lake to American Lake via PCT #2000 past Naches Peak, Dewey Lake and Andersen Lake, to American Ridge Trail for the last half-mile. 14 miles r/t. 99.99 percent snow free - only a few small patches on the north side of Naches Peak and down at Dewey Lake. Wildflowers are out. Lots of solitude past Dewey Lake.
Multi-night backpack
Features:
Fall foliage | Ripe berries
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Wife and I did a 4 day backpack trip in the Chinook Pass area Sept 21-24. Started out at Chinook...
Wife and I did a 4 day backpack trip in the Chinook Pass area Sept 21-24. Started out at Chinook Pass at 11am and headed down the PCT to Dewey Lake where we stopped for lunch and a rest break. Trail is in good shape. Most of the camping sites around Dewey are closed for restoration on both sides of the lake.
Headed on down the PCT south to Anderson Lake where we planned to camp, but found out it was in the Mount Rainier National Park boundary, so no camping at the lake. There is a camp just about 40 yards up the PCT and off to the left about 150 feet from the trail marked with a Camp sign. We stayed the night at the "Basin Overlook Camp" and enjoyed sitting around Anderson lake until the sun went down. Loads of blueberries and huckleberries. Next morning (late) we headed on down the PCT to the American Ridge trail junction and took it to American lake. A great lake and lots of good camp spots. We got in so early to America Lake (only 50 minutes from Anderson), that we set up camp and then headed off with day packs down to Cougar Lakes. The trail to Cougar Lakes heads off of the American Ridge trail about a mile east of American Lake. From there it doesn't follow either the Green Trails map or my Delorme map on the GPS. It has been rerouted to go up higher on the ridgeline and then drop down several step and rocky switchbacks just above little Cougar Lake. Nearly all the sites at Little Cougar and between Cougar and Little Cougar Lake are closed for restoration. There was only one meadow place that we found that we would have camped in, but there is a horse camp just behind it and that wouldn't be were we'd want to be. The trail to Cougar was rough and very hard to determine as multiple paths go different ways as horse groups have simply chosen where they want to travel and make their own path. The lakes were beautiful, but the trail and the camping were less than appealing. We hoofed it back to American lake by 4 PM and went for a swim to cool off and wash the dust off us. The next day we headed N on the PCT hoping to camp on the far side of Dewey lake (opposite the PCT), but after wandering the complete far side there were no places that were open to camp in except one at the top of the lake were toilet paper, feces, and urine smell permeated the entire place (interesting that site wasn't closed for restoration). So we decided to try Little Dewey Lake and found several great spots for camping on the N side of the lake. Hiked out on Thursday from Dewey back to Chinook Pass in 1 1/2 hours. All in all a great 4 days of beautiful weather, beautiful lakes, and pleanty of fresh air. Only one other party at American lake and one other party at Little Dewey. We had Anderson Lake all to ourselves (along with a herd of Elk that were bugling the entire night long.) All told we ended up hiking 19 miles over the 4 days. Blueberries were all over the place we picked several cups for our oatmeal and packed 2 cups out with us. Fall colors were great and the trail was not too dusty. Very few bugs to speak of anywhere (Dewey had the most mosquitoes, but not bad at all). Saw bear evidence on trail, but no bears. Multi-night backpack
Features:
Fall foliage | Ripe berries
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I went on a Cascadian backpack to American Lake Sat-Mon, 9/12-14. We hiked in from Chinook Pass and arrived...
I went on a Cascadian backpack to American Lake Sat-Mon, 9/12-14. We hiked in from Chinook Pass and arrived mid-afternoon. The day was sunny & warm and Ethan took an afternoon swim. On Sun we day hiked the PCT south. We got a fairly late start so we had lunch at Two Lakes, where Ethan took another swim. After lunch we continued on to the point just past the junction with the Laughingwater Creek Trail where you can look down on Crag Lake. By the time we got back to American Lake we had hiked some 10 miles and were hot & sweaty, so Ethan & I took a swim while Brian relaxed in his sling chair. Some low, marine clouds started moving in late in the evening and we had some fog & drizzle overnight, but it cleared some in the morning. We hiked out under the edge of the clouds, sometimes in sun, sometimes not until just before Dewey Lakes when the fog rolled in for good. There was only one other party at the lake each night, but we met lots of thru-hikers on the PCT and a few bow-hunters (we also heard a report of some bear hunters who shot a bear near the PCT by Crag Lake). There were no bugs, we heard elk bugling, and the huckleberries were thick & turning color.
Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Water on trail | Snow on trail
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Tried this a week ago and the Mesatchee Creek trail was buried in snow by the Ridgeline.
Good Hike, Trails...
Tried this a week ago and the Mesatchee Creek trail was buried in snow by the Ridgeline.
Good Hike, Trails are in good shape but there was still a LOT of snow by American Lake, especially to the west. We lost the trail for about 1/2 of a mile, but one of us (that would be me) found it. American Lake is beautiful this time of year. We saw a couple of backpackers on the PCT. Not TOO many bugs. The weather was nice and my 2 legged hiking partner did not bitch too much. |
American Lake. Photo by Cruiznbye.
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