Information about this hike provided in partnership with
Mountaineers Books.
Copyright © Craig Romano/The Mountaineers Books Merritt Lake and Lost Lake
Featured In:
Day Hiking: Central Cascades,
by Craig Romano.
A portion of all book sales from the links above benefits WTA and helps protect and maintain our trails. Like Lower Lena Lake in the Olympics, Merritt attracts throngs of hikers from all walks of life. And like Lena the trail shows scars from the less enlightened. Set a good example by not cutting switchbacks and help educate those tempted to do so. In mature timber, head off on a dusty and brushy-at-times but generally good trail. Steadily climbing along a rib, the trail winds through small openings and beneath a canopy made up in part of impressive giant ponderosa pines. Big Doug-firs begin to add to the old-growth mix. As you ascend steeply at times and with aid of switchbacks, Mahar Creek can be heard tumbling in the distance. Traverse above cliff and talus and enjoy a window view east out to Alpine Lookout. At 2 miles, shortly after crossing a small creek, reach a junction with the Nason Ridge Trail (elev. 4850 ft). Follow this trail, the more beaten way, to the right on a gentle 0.5-mile journey, passing a small bog and crossing Mahar Creek before reaching Merritt Lake (elev. 5000 ft). Set in a forested cirque beneath craggy ridges, the lake does not have a shoreline with many good spots for lounging. To find Lost Lake, continue on the Nason Ridge Trail for another 0.5 mile, climbing 300 feet to an unmarked junction. Follow an unmaintained but very obvious and used trail left, climbing another 250 feet to a forested saddle. Enjoy excellent views of Merritt Lake along the way. Ignore side trails (unless you want to explore view-providing knolls). Continue straight through heather meadows, and then drop steeply 600 feet to Lost Lake (elev. 4930 ft), set in a cirque beneath Mount Mastiff. You'll find a lot fewer people here, but probably the same quantity of swarming mosquitoes.
Driving Directions:
From Everett head east on US Hwy 2 for 65 miles to Stevens Pass. Continue east for another 11.3 miles turning left onto Forest Road 657. From Leavenworth head west on US 2 for 23 miles. (Note: As of 08/10, FR 657 was unmarked. Find mile marker 76 on Hwy 2, then take first left on dirt road with stop sign.) Recent Trip Reports
Hiked here recently?
Submit a trip report!
There are
83
trip reports for this hike.
See all trip reports for this hike.
Merritt Lake and Lost Lake
— Aug 08, 2011
— Boca and company
Day hike
Issues:
Bugs
Expand report text
Hide report text
Read full report
Monday - perfect day for a hike on this trail as we only encountered one other party the entire day....
Monday - perfect day for a hike on this trail as we only encountered one other party the entire day. The road is in great condition as is the trail with minimal snow even at the top of the ridge. Lots of bugs at the lake, so be prepared! Plenty of water after the first mile and a half, so a great hike for canines and their owners! Boca loved swimming in the lake and couldn't get enough.
Overnight
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Washouts | Water on trail | Snow on trail | Road to trailhead inaccessible
Expand report text
Hide report text
Read full report
with photos
Well, it's still pretty snowy. Lost the trail to Merritt Lake at the junction with Nason Ridge trail 1/2...
Well, it's still pretty snowy. Lost the trail to Merritt Lake at the junction with Nason Ridge trail 1/2 mile before the lake. Did an old-school compass and map reading and actually found the lake. Still snow-ringed, but sites were melting out. Continued up in snow to catch the trail to Alpine Lookout. After a bit of a side trip (lost trail again in the snow) met up with the actual path and followed it all the way to the top. This portion of trail was mostly clear of snow, or had been clearly marked with pink tape.
Had the pleasure of meeting Gary, one of the last real fire look-out men at the top. Got the tour of the look-out cabin, and a bit of history. Great views, lots of snow. Camped near the look-out, (stars and fireworks!) then headed out the next morning following the trail towards Nason Creek and Round Mountain. Had to work VERY hard to keep the trail until the junction with 1529, Round Mountain. Road is washed out along Butcher Creek, about 1 mile from HWY 2, so had to walk from the trailhead about 3.8 miles to meet our pick-up car. All in all a great outing, would have been easier with GPS unit. Day hike
Issues:
Snow on trail
Expand report text
Hide report text
Read full report
with photos
Here's a quick report on yet another aborted attempt to get into the high country.
The trail begins well enough, on...
Here's a quick report on yet another aborted attempt to get into the high country.
The trail begins well enough, on snow-free tread and in good shape, up to about 3200', where spotty snow appears. By 3400' the snow gets deep, then deeper, and I finally lost the trail at 3600'. I followed my GPS on up to about 4600' where I finally gave up, stymied by very deep and increasingly soft snow. At 4100' there is a great rocky ledge, mostly snow and tree free, where I took a short break to rehydrate and refuel on my homemade trail food (which somehow tends to be heavy on the M&Ms component). Meantime I admired the sunny and unobstructed views over to Arrowhead Mountain and down the Nason Creek valley toward Leavenworth. Though not one of the finest of Cascade trails, Merritt Lake is not entirely without merit. It's pleasant to hike, with lots of variety as the trail winds in and out of the mountain shadows and passes some very interesting (at least to flora freaks) permanent seeps which follow an enormous subterranean crack that runs up the ridge for a long way. At one of these I found Naked Broomrape, an interesting little parasitic plant that lives on species of Saxifrage. I wonder about the "parasitic" description of this plant, as the hosts / parasites both seem to do very well co-existing. In the same area, I saw some Tweedy's Lewisia at about the same time last year. This year they have not yet emerged or may have been "collected" - I noticed several small excavations right where they used to be. There's a reason Tweedy's are rare - they are a very particular species that does not do well in rock gardens, which is true of most of our beautiful mountain flowers. So please avoid the temptation. Moreover, collecting is illegal in wilderness areas, and rangers take this seriously. Besides, nature provides a much better rock garden! BTW, the approach road (Merritt Lake Trail road) is in pretty good shape.
Merritt Lake and Lost Lake
— Oct 10, 2010
— digity777
Day hike
Features:
Fall foliage
Issues:
Mudholes | Water on trail
Expand report text
Hide report text
Read full report
Short steep hike to a nice medium size lake. It rained the whole 3 miles up and did the same...
Short steep hike to a nice medium size lake. It rained the whole 3 miles up and did the same on the way back down, however gave us a break at the top when we had lunch so that was nice. Fall colors not as bright as they will probaly get yet. Hot soup and cocoa at top made up for the cold day nicely expecialy for all the kids. Not the best hike but worth doing once maybe a 2nd time to find lost lake that is above it on the map, but dont see trail to it. No snow yet but feels like its close.
Day hike
Expand report text
Hide report text
Read full report
with photos
I passed by a decrepit old trail on Saturday while hiking the Nason Ridge Trail. After looking at a map...
I passed by a decrepit old trail on Saturday while hiking the Nason Ridge Trail. After looking at a map I decided that it had to be the trail up Mastiff. I left Merrit Lake Trail trailhead at 9 AM. The trail is a steady gain for 2 miles to NRT. Turning left (west) here you quickly see a drop is use of the trail. Another mile along at a soft lefthand bend in the trail is the faint trail to mastiff.
Upon closer inspection I noticed nails in an old snag that clearly had been from an old forest service trail sign. The trail runs up the spine of the south ridge of Mastiff. It has lots of windfall and disappears into the grass from time to time. Never-the-less it stays true to the ridge with great views towards Lake Wenatchee and the eatern end of Nason Ridge. After 1/2 an hour on the ridge is a great bench (2-3 acres?) on the east side. This would make a great place to graze the horses or let the kids run about. The ridge line becomes more and more narrow. A stretch of horizontal ridgeline needs to be bypassed lower down on the east side. It is easy enough but loose and exposed. This stretch would not be suitable for horses or children. A tumble would be ugly. The ridge eases off again for the last ~500' of gain. Talus, heather and krumholtz are all around. My day was windswept and cold. Visibility was <150'. Many hikers noted that they had traversed over from Howard Mountain. On the map this looked good, without visibility not so good. Round trip from the car 5 hours. |
Merritt Lake. Photo by Altabill.
Map it
|
Document Actions
- Email this page
- Print this
- Share
Forgot your
New user?
