Merritt Lake and Lost Lake
Last modified
Oct 27, 2009 12:09 PM
Merritt is a popular lake-in fact crowded at times-but not much of a lake. The trail is good and the old-growth forest appealing, but the lake itself is swarming with mosquitoes, shallow and grassy, and with a shoreline trampled by overuse. Merritt appears to lack much merit. A trip in fall, however, when the buzzing buggers are absent and deciduous shrubs streak the lake basin red and yellow, has its charms. And if you want adventure, find Lost Lake, the largest lake on Nason Ridge and one whose tough approach keeps visitation down. Recent Trip Reports
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Day hike
Features:
Ripe berries
Issues:
No water source
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On this beautiful Monday I drove 11 miles east of Stevens Pass and turned onto the Merritt Lake trailhead...
On this beautiful Monday I drove 11 miles east of Stevens Pass and turned onto the Merritt Lake trailhead road. Only 1.6 miles of approach road, but that is good because it is rough and rocky. Two wheel drive works fine but go slow.
My destination today was Mt. Mastiff (6,741') so I skipped the trail to Merritt Lake and continued on the trail up to Nason Ridge. After hiking approximately 3.5 miles from the trailhead up to the ridge the trail begins a turn to the west on Nason Ridge and begins to lose elevation. This is the place where one finds the climbers path up to Mt. Mastiff. There is a dead tree (It almost looks like a post) with two nails at the spot where the climber's path leaves the main trail, but it is easy to miss. The climbers path follows the ridge north towards Mt. Mastiff. If you lose the path just stay with the ridge and you will find it again. After about a mile the ridge becomes very narrow and one must drop and traverse the steep east side for maybe 200 yards. (class 2 or 3 - see picture) This ridge traverse was my major concern and I took it slow and careful. After the traverse the climb up to the summit of Mt. Mastiff was a walk up. Despite the haze from fires somewhere the views were great. 10 miles round trip with 3,700' of elevation gain. About 4 hours up and 3 down. The summer bug problem seems to be history. Day hike
Issues:
Bugs
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Bring bug repellent and don't stop at the lake.
The dirt road to the trailhead can be driven with a low...
Bring bug repellent and don't stop at the lake.
The dirt road to the trailhead can be driven with a low ground clearance vehicle if driven slowly. We did it in a Ford Taurus. The were almost no wildflowers and by late afternoon very aggressive mosquitoes. The first mile and a quarter are steep, and personally the lake is not worth the hike up. For the only good views without having to go another 3 miles to Alpine Peak lookout try the ridge to the north of the Merritt Lake. Follow the trail, east of the lake, as if you are going to Alpine Peak, but shortly after starting up (5,300 ft), take a left, and follow the established trail to Lost Lake. At the saddle, (5,550 ft) take a right on the unmarked trail, up to the ridge top (5,620 ft) to excellent views all around. The trail is a bit exposed and not for everyone, but the views are probably better than at the Alpine Peak lookout. Directly west is Mount Mastiff (6,741 ft), with Lost Lake hidden at its base, to the north west is Glacier Peak and to its right, Buck Mtn. et.al. And finally down below is Merritt Lake (5,003 ft). This is hopefully a nicer hike in the fall, when the bugs are all gone.
Merritt Lake
— Jul 03, 2009
— Jan Deveny
Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Bugs
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This is hike #45 in Craig Romano's "Day Hiking the Central Cascades" and hike #41 in Ira Spring's "55 Hikes...
This is hike #45 in Craig Romano's "Day Hiking the Central Cascades" and hike #41 in Ira Spring's "55 Hikes Around Stevens Pass." The trail is in good shape; there are no obstructions. There are a few small patches of snow in the last quarter mile or so before the Lake, but they are no problem. Mosquitos were not bad until I got close to the Lake. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most mosquitos I ever saw, I would say the population of mosquitos at the Lake right now is a 5 or a 6. There are plenty of them, but they are not in swarms and they did respect my insect repellent.
There was a nice variety of wildflowers during the first mile or so on the trail, but almost none after that. The road from Highway 2 to the trailhead is rough; better have a vehicle with good clearance and drive slow. Overnight
Issues:
Mud/Rockslide | Washouts | Snow on trail | Bugs
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My 20 yr old son and i backpacked up Rock Mtn with plans to cross Nason Ridge to Kahler Glen....
My 20 yr old son and i backpacked up Rock Mtn with plans to cross Nason Ridge to Kahler Glen. We began Thurs pm and hiked up to Rock Mtn and the cirque lake at its base and decided to camp there. Trail was fine until near the top when mosquitos became a bit of a problem and then snow made finding the trail a challenge. But we managed to get to the lake by glissading a bit. That evening we hiked up to Rock Mtn (45 min) and had several snow fields to cross before the south facing trail on the ridge made it easy to summit. Stayed for sundown and had a mountain goat and several marmots for company. Fabulous views!
Left Friday morning and found the trail very difficult due to scree and snow. The south facing ridge out of Rock Mtn was not in good shape with one particularly nasty avalanche/run-off that was about 6' deep with not easy crossing. No kids and only experienced hikers should attempt this. Other side of ridge had lots of snow making the hike even more challenging and difficult to find the trail. Then the mosquitos struck! Despite two applications of DEET, they weren't afraid. We kept moving as fast as possible but then a steep climb slowed us down and it was open season. For as many as we killed I'm sure my blood was used to propagate a million times more! We decided to drop out at the Merritt Lake trail and once we got about half mile down, the trail was drier and the bugs were gone. I figured with all the warm dry weather in June we might be okay. I figured wrong! Bug juice, mosquito netting and much more dry weather will be needed to survive what would otherwise have been a beautiful trip. Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Bugs
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The trail to Merritt Lake is in great shape. There are some very minor snow patches on the trail after...
The trail to Merritt Lake is in great shape. There are some very minor snow patches on the trail after the junction with the Nason Ridge trail. They are nothing to cross and only mentioned out of full disclosure. Around the snow and in a couple other spots the trail gets a little muddy. Again, nothing major. The bugs are bad where it is moist so bring along your DEET. The lake is up and there is lots of water cascading into the lake on the northwest corner. If you cross the outflow and hike over to that corner its a nice treat. Flowers are blooming at the lower elevations. Up around the lake things are just starting to spout after the snow melt.
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Driving Directions
From Everett head east on US 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.) Proceed 1.6 miles on FR 657, reaching the trailhead at the road's end (elev. 3100 ft). |
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