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Copyright © Dan A. Nelson/The Mountaineers Books

Keechelus Lake - John Wayne Snowshoe

Featured In: Snowshoe Routes - Washington, by Dan A. Nelson.
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Well pardner, if you're looking for a gentle, but rustic outing, John Wayne can help you out. The old railroad right-of-way that runs across the state is known as the John Wayne State Park, while the actual physical trail (the old railbed) is the Iron Horse Trail. But whether you call it the John Wayne Trail, the Iron Horse Trail, or the Keechelus Lake Trail, you'll find this a great route to enjoy with the family. The flat, well-graded trail is perfect for kids of all ages.

Climbing slightly west from the trailhead to get on the trail, turn left (south) and stroll south along the trail as it hugs the slope above the waters of Keechelus Lake. The trail (like the old train route before it) pushes east to Idaho, but there's no need to think so far out. The trail is often groomed, and when it is, snowshoers should stick to the outside edges of the path--and don't tread on established ski tracks if it can be avoided.

From the trail, you can look across the lake at the rushing traffic on I-90, and above that ribbon of frenetic activity, you'll see the jagged crown of Rampart Ridge and the high summit of Mount Margaret at the northern end of Keechelus Ridge.

At about 2 miles from the trailhead, you'll find the base of some steep avalanche chutes. Until the late 1990s, huge old wooden structures covered the route here. They were snow sheds--basically, roofs over the railroad tracks to divert avalanche snows from covering the train route. This is a great place to turn around--move much farther east and you risk running out of snow as the trail continues to drop in elevation.

Author’s Rating: Easiest.
Generally good trails for beginners, with little elevation change and minimal avalanche danger.

Driving Directions:

To get there, from Seattle drive east on Interstate 90 over Snoqualmie Pass to exit 54, signed Hyak. Turn left and drive about 1.5 miles south on Forest Road 2219 to the Hyak Sno-Park.

Recent Trip Reports

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There are 3 trip reports for this hike.

Keechelus Lake - John Wayne Snowshoe — Mar 04, 2012 — wanderlust432

Day hike

Issues: Snow on trail

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Though there hadn't been any measurable new snow for the week the trail was still in good shape for ...

Though there hadn't been any measurable new snow for the week the trail was still in good shape for snowshoeing. Many Cross Country Skiers were on the path as well.

If you're coming fromm the Hyak Sno-Park parking area, take the trail break that goes to the left about a 1/4 mile in. It gets you close to the lake and you can see some awesome mountain views all around on partially clear day.

FYI- currently (hopefully not anymore if the bill passes!) you need a Sno-Park pass as well as the Discover Pass to park in the Hyak Sno-Park parking area. When open, you can buy the sno-pass from the kiosk onsite. Also, no dogs allowed in this particular area in the winter.

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Keechelus Lake - John Wayne Snowshoe — Dec 02, 2011 — Wendy W

Day hike

Issues: Snow on trail

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We parked at Hyak and headed east on the John Wayne. The 1-2 feet of snow was frozen so we left the ...

We parked at Hyak and headed east on the John Wayne. The 1-2 feet of snow was frozen so we left the snowshoes in the car.
When we got to Cold Creek we followed some tracks down toward the lake for some great photos and some trickier travel.
On the way back we turned down toward the lake near a gate. We made our way down to the boat ramp, climbed up the little hill and wandered out a spit into the lake. It was beautiful! It seems so remote yet I-90 is just across the lake. Some of those drivers must have wondered about us crazy hikers out there almost in the lake.

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Lake Keechelus, Iron Horse Trail (ish) from Hyak — Feb 15, 2008 — WildCelticRose

Day hike

Issues: Snow on trail

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~ I took a friend in need (who’s not up for a hard core trip) for a nice snowshoe walk along Lake...

~

I took a friend in need (who’s not up for a hard core trip) for a nice snowshoe walk along Lake Keechelus on the East side of Snoqualmie Summit.

Hyak is an awesome snowpark. Great parking, flat if you want an easy day, groomed trails if you want them, and HEATED bathrooms with indoor plumbing.

We left my place at 9:00 AM (leaving before that to drive North on a regular work day is just stoopid because you get stuck in commuter traffic; no thanks)

We did have a small bit of traffic excitement as the right lane of eastbound I-90, west of the summit, was closed due to a snow slide (it was a bit too “weenie” to call an actual avalanche)

The weather forecast is for a beautiful weekend (I have a Mt Rainier trip planned for tomorrow) but today we were getting hit with the tip of a storm and had a 50% chance of rain.

We did see a bit of “snowballing” at the beginning of the trail that is a sure sign of avalanche danger (we weren’t in an avalanche zone) so I’ll be very careful tomorrow and take the routes that completely avoid the avalanche zones.

We arrived to spring like weather (OK one degree above freeing IS “spring like” here) and “the orb” (that would be the sun for those of you who actually see it in the winter) even made a brief appearance as did the color blue in the sky (what WAS the water doing up there?)

It was one of those wonderful days where we know how lucky we are to live here (and why we don’t off ourselves in the winter) and everyone was chatting with everyone else on the trail (this is a very friendly place anyway)

We snowshoed alongside the ski trails in the fresh snow (I broke trail, and am I ever tired) for about an hour and a half and then had lunch. It only took us a little over an hour to get back because towards the end it started to rain and we were not amused.

We hauled butt back to the truck. We arrived just before we would have been soaked (I was a bit damp)

The trip back was even MORE exciting than the trip up as the interstate had one lane blocked in THREE places due to snowslides (one, I'll call a real avalanche)

We stopped off at the Starbucks in North Bend for peppermint hot chocolate and where I was finally tempted to try a cupcake. I mean come on, how good could a cupcake be at a chain that recently tried to make their baked goods more healthy? (asks the woman who only bakes with butter) I’ve never been a huge fan of Starbuck’s backed goods anyway.

But their vanilla cupcake?

OMG !!!

If you’ve ever seen the movie ‘When Harry Met Sally”, you’ll understand my reaction to that cupcake.

The pictures are available here:

http://www.wildcelticrose.net/lisasplace/keechelus0208.html

~L