Chair Peak LakeRecent Trip Reports
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Day hike
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I dropped my bike off at the Snow Lake TH and drove down to the Denny Creek TH and got...
I dropped my bike off at the Snow Lake TH and drove down to the Denny Creek TH and got on the trail at about 8:30. I saw several Saturday night campers treking out on my way up to Melakwa Lake. Got to the lake at 10:30 to snap a few pics and eat a snack. Only a few people at the lake. I headed up on the west side of Melakwa Lake and the east side of Upper Melakwa Lake and then I boulder hopped my way straight up the stream. I crossed a snowfield and then hit a steep boulder field. I started to question my sanity and when a fast (& light packing) moving woman shot past me. She was crazier than me traveling from Pratt Lake after biking down from dropping her car at Snow Lake TH. She said the morning ride was chilly and that my idea of ending with the bike ride was better. She was encouraging to see but was soon out of sight. When I got to Melakwa Pass, she was just getting out of sight at the bottom of the Chair Peak cirque. The views from the pass were great and I took another short break there. Chair Peak Lake was 97% frozen and the snow field reached all the way up to the pass. I saw that the crazy woman must have slid down the slope so I thought why not? I found out. I got going so fast and out of control that I flew right over a little crack in the snow. Finally, I dug my heals in as the snowfield leveled off. I understand why they say it is impossible to self-arrest with hiking poles. Note: an ice axe would've come in handy if you know how to use it. I continued to follow the foot prints around the east side of the lake. The foot prints lead too far downstream of the lake outlet for a comfortable crossing over what must have been a snowbridge over the stream that leads to Snow Lake (I wasn't sure if the water I heard was from the falls downstream or underneath my feet). I started to descend to quickly and came to a dead end - dead if I had kept going over the cliff. I quickly realized that I must gain some elevation and traverse Mt. Roosevelt in a NW'erly direction. That was confirmed when I arrived at the next snowfield were I saw more footprints. It was a combination of snow & talus slopes that I descended to the trees and brush. In retrospect, I made a pretty good line over to the north side of Snow Lake were I knew that I'd pick up the trail somewhere between Snow and Gem Lakes along that ridge. This did involve some holding on to bushes at times for balance and skirting of a couple ponds. I wonder if rather than trying to keep a steady elevation it would've been better to gain some elevation and try to hit Gem Lake more directly. As expected the Snow Lake trail was packed with people and just like last year when I was coming out (from Gem Lake) there were EMTs heading up the trail to rescue someone got hurt. I took another short break along Snow Lake and got down to the TH shortly after 5pm. The bike ride down to Denny Creek TH was fast and a great way of shaving 1000 ft of elevation descent off the hike.
I figured about 10.5 miles & ~3,500 elevation gain (2,500 loss). Overall, this traverse is not for everyone but it does take you to some wonderfully beautiful areas that are hard to beat. Day hike
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The Denny Creek trail is wide and smooth from the parking lot to the Denny Creek water slides (about 1...
The Denny Creek trail is wide and smooth from the parking lot to the Denny Creek water slides (about 1 mile). Above here, it is still in pretty good shape all the way to Melakwa Lake, but it is rough and rocky in a few places. Keekwulee falls had just a little water coming over it and there is a nice view of it from the trail. Snowshoe falls is pretty close to the trail also, but you cannot really see it. From Melakwa Lake there is a nice view across the lake to Melakwa Pass and Kaleetan Peak. I followed a path around the left side of Melakwa Lake and a faint track around the right side of Upper Melakwa Lake. From here to Melakwa pass it was mostly over rocks.
Denny Creek #1014,Melakwa Pass,Snow Lake #1013,Chair Peak Lake,Gem Lake #1013,Melakwa Lake #1014
— Jul 27, 2003
— Jim Litsinger
Day hike
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Snow Lake, Gem Lake, Chair Peak Lake, Melakwa Pass, Melakwa Lake, Denny Creek, Traverse. Great weather for a Sunday...
Snow Lake, Gem Lake, Chair Peak Lake, Melakwa Pass, Melakwa Lake, Denny Creek, Traverse. Great weather for a Sunday hike. Clear skies and temperatures ranged from the 60’s to low 80’s. Met my hiking partner, Rob Viens, at the Denny Creek Trailhead (where we left one car), and drove to the Snow Lake Trailhead. Started hiking around 9:00am. Snow Lake was busy, but only one person at Gem Lake. There are no trails to Chair Peak Lake, so you have to go cross-country. From Gem Lake we crossed the outlet stream and headed uphill to the ridge leading to Mount Roosevelt. Heading southwest, there is a rough-climbers path you can follow on the ridge crest. Great views of Lower Wildcat Lake and the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River Valley. Where the ridge meets the steep slope of Mount Roosevelt, we traversed south to Chair Peak Lake. We traversed several talus slopes, staying just below the cliffs. After crossing the main talus chute-slope, we climbed to a bench overlooking the Lake. The views were incredible. Chair Peak Lake sits in a rough-cut glacial cirque, with polished granite benches on the outlet side (which drops to Snow Lake), and steep snow and talus slopes leading to Chair Peak, Melakwa Pass and Kaleetan Peak on the other sides. About 60% of the lake is still ice covered and it’s very cold, no swimming here to cool off. After spending an hour checking out the geology of the Chair Peak Lake basin, we climbed up the fairly steep snow and talus slope leading to Melakwa Pass. Views from the pass were great, to the north are Chair Peak Lake, Gem Lake, and Glacier Peak and to the south are Melakwa Lake and Mount Adams. Dropping down to Upper Melakwa Lake, we started on a rough trail, which soon disappeared under a major rockslide. We slowly picked our way through the jumble of rocks and boulders to a creek leading to Upper Melakwa Lake. We stayed on the east side of Upper Melakwa Lake to its outlet stream, then followed, the well marked, major trail leading around the west side of Melakwa Lake, up to Hemlock Pass, and down along Denny Creek. We saw no one from Gem Lake to Melakwa Pass, but lots of people and dogs at Melakwa Lake and Denny Creek. We arrived at the Denny Creek Trailhead about 5:00pm. A quick car ride back to the Snow Lake Trailhead and the trip was over. This was a terrific hike, which covered about 14-miles and 3,290-feet of total elevation gain. |
Chair Peak Lake near Melakwa Pass. Photo by Carey.
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