Information about this hike provided in partnership with
Mountaineers Books.
Copyright © Dan A. Nelson/The Mountaineers Books Annette 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. The trail begins alongside the Asahel Curtis Nature Trail but continues to climb to the right when the gentle Asahel Curtis Loop goes left. You'll follow an ancient old logging road (mostly reclaimed by the fertile forest). At about 1 mile out, you'll pass under a high-tension powerline and 0.25 mile later will cross the wide track of the Iron Horse Trail (the old railroad right-of-way). From this point, the trail gets serious. Serious about scenery, and serious about climbing. The path switchbacks up the Humpback Creek valley for more than 1.5 miles until the last steep pitch puts you at about 3600 feet elevation. For the next mile, you'll traverse the slope above Humpback Creek, with occasional views across the valley to Humpback Mountain. The trail ends at the shores of Annette Lake, which lies in the cirque between Humpback Mountain, Abiel Peak, and Silver Peak.
Driving Directions:
From Seattle drive east on I-90 to exit 47 (Asahel Curtis/Denny Creek). Turn right from the off-ramp and continue 0.25 mile, then turn left on Forest Road 5590. You'll find the parking area in 0.3 mile. Recent Trip Reports
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Day hike
Issues:
Blowdowns | Snow on trail
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Made it to the lake in 2.5 hours; whole hike time with plentiful stops took us 4 hours.
Higher clearance,...
Made it to the lake in 2.5 hours; whole hike time with plentiful stops took us 4 hours.
Higher clearance, 4-wheel drive vehicle would be better for the snow on Tinkham Road & parking lot. Trail was mostly hard packed snow, which made it icy and slippery on the way down. About 1-1.5 miles from the lake you might lose the well traveled trail in a gulley/clearing with fresh avalanche/snowfall but it is easy to pick the trail up again in the trees usually directly across but within 20 feet up or down from directly across. It can get sketchy in places when it is 1-2" snow over a solid sheet of ice. Ski poles seriously recommended, but avoiding the bad ice and stomping the edges of your boots works very well.
Annette Lake
— Dec 17, 2011
— string cheeze
Day hike
Issues:
Snow on trail
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Beautiful day. Road to the trail head is a deep snowy track. Need high clearance. Hard packed snow...
Beautiful day. Road to the trail head is a deep snowy track. Need high clearance. Hard packed snow and ice for the first half mile or so, but not too bad. Remainder of the trail was mostly packed snow with good traction and no post holing. Great view of Humpback. Lake was pretty and frozen over with people wandering out away from shore. Please don't do that. It's a good way to lose friends. Aside from that a great day in the woods.
Day hike
Issues:
Snow on trail
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A good amount of snow both on the road to the parking lot and on the trail. Needed a...
A good amount of snow both on the road to the parking lot and on the trail. Needed a high clearance vehicle to get down the road, really. Trail was mostly icy leading up to the old logging road where things turned more snowy which helped with footing. The trail throughout was pretty much hard-packed and snow shoes were not needed, though off trail the snow was at about a minimum of 6" up to about 2-3 feet in places.
A great day and a great hike. Was a bit foggy by the time we made it to the lake, so it was difficult to see across, but there were breaks.
Annette Lake
— Nov 12, 2011
— dadzeno
Day hike
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After finding the road to the Lake Talapus trail head impassable, my daugher and I drove east a few miles...
After finding the road to the Lake Talapus trail head impassable, my daugher and I drove east a few miles and hiked to Lake Annette. The trail had a little snow, but nothing that impeded hiking or required any special gear. The trees were covered with a light layer of snow. There's a waterfall early on that's stunning, especially with all the snowy alder branches interlaced into a vault over the stream. The ridge to the west looked silvery, like an Ansel Adams photo.
The hike was pretty easy for an old out-of-shape guy; about 1400 feet elevation gain spread out over 4 miles. Lake Annette turns out to be prettier than I had expected; I'd never bothered to go there in the summer, given the many alternatives at higher altitudes. It's just beginning to freeze in the shallows. This was a beautiful hike for this time of year. Highly recommended Day hike
Issues:
Water on trail | Snow on trail
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What a stunning hike in the snow and we lucked out with sunny fall weather too! The hike itself actually...
What a stunning hike in the snow and we lucked out with sunny fall weather too! The hike itself actually doesn't seem like 8 miles. It does gain the elevation rather quickly, but flattens out for the remaining hike to the lake. We encountered snow about halfway to the lake, but it wasn't anything that required special equipment to hike through. The lake was beautiful and almost didn't look real. It's a gorgeous hike, so get out there soon!
WTA has done some awesome trail work here as well! Thank you!!! |
Waterfall along the Annette Lake Trail, by Garrett.
2011
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