Had hiked Snow Lake trail w/ Brooklake group in Oct 2007 in rain and snow. No views then, had to come back on a clear day. Today fit that bill. A few cars already at Alpenthal parking lot even at 8:15 on a Wed. First part of trail is in woods with some open talus slopes. Some wildflowers (columbine, blue bells, beargrass, tigerlillies, etc.) but not a huge showing. At 1 1/2 mile a junction is reached with the Source Lake overlook trail. I took this .4 mile sidetrip. Well worth it. Trail essentially ends on rocky slope with a couple of streams and view of Source lake below. Lots of jagged peaks all around. If it hadn't been so early, I might have taken my lunch break there. Nice solitude. Upon returning to the Snow Lake trail I encountered a member of a WTA trail group that were working on the Source Lake trail. I chatted with the guy and found out that he had recently climbed the Tooth and was able to identify some of the surrounding peaks for me. The Snow Lake trail switchbacks up and then back down to Snow Lake. I spoke to a couple of women I had seen earlier. They were planning on going all the way to Wildcat Lakes. They were contemplating a side climb of Mount Wright. It sounded pretty ambitious but also intriguing. I hadn't planned on a Mt Wright climb but it seemed not far, or that high above, Gem Lake, according to my map. I stopped briefly at the ruins of the old cabin and continued on around Snow Lake towards Gem Lake. I continued on the trail which encircles the large Snow Lake. I saw a guy fishing out of a raft on Snow Lake. A fork with a trail coming up from the Middle Fork Snoqualmie is reached at about 3 miles. I continued up to Gem Lake on a trail that crosses a couple of outlet streams then switchbacks up. Upon reaching Gem Lake I noted a side trail near some campsites. I investigated and it turned out to be the climbers path to Mt Wright. Figuring you can't go wrong with Wright, I continued. A path is fairly noticeable most of the way, but peeters out at a couple of boulder fields. Keep going up and before you know it your on top! A cairn marks the summit. Beautiful panoramic views up there. Both lakes, the peaks west of the lakes, Glacier Peak, Snoqualmie Mt, Wildcat Lake, Mt Baker (barely), and many others. I enjoyed lunch on this spectacular perch. A lot of bugs on the trail today but didn't seem as bad at this summit. No biting flies or mosquitoes noted. Down climb, lost trail briefly but found it again. A couple of small snow patches crossed, otherwise clear. Went back down to Gem Lake and hiked to sign pointing to Wildcat Lakes. Decided to leave that for another day and turned around. Saw the two women again at Gem Lake. Told them where the path to Mt Wright summit was (I marked it with a small cairn). They decided to head to Wildcat Lakes and attempt Mt Wright on way back if time & energy left (I bet they didn't attempt Mt Wright summit but would be impressed if they did). Stopped to soak feet in Gem Lake. Later saw several campers swimming in Snow Lake (Lots of noise!) Encountered a hiker at the pass above Snow Lake that said he saw me (in my bright red shirt) on the Mt Wright summit from Gem Lake. What a great day to be out in this beautiful countryside. Midweek was a great day for this hike as I understand it gets crazy on the weekend. Only 2 wildlife sightings - 1 pika poked out from behind a rock, and 2 frogs at the lake.

I decided to go back to one of my favorite alpine lakes in the world : Snow Lake. We started late in the day, around 11 am. There were a fair number of people out there but there were still lots of moments when we had the trail to ourselves. You can avoid the crowd by going early in the day or on weekdays. We tried to reach Gem lake, but it was getting late for us so we turned back when we were 25 mins from reaching Gem lake. Even if you dont plan on going all the way to Gem lake, I would recommend hiking down to Snow Lake and walking along it for a bit. That part of the hike is beautiful.

The weather was beautiful and the trail is in excellent condition. There are bugs near the lake itself so make sure to bring bug spray.

You can see more of my pics from the hike here : http://www.flickr.com/[…]/

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.

I didn't start my hike until 6pm so everyone I saw was coming back down. Lots of cool campsights, but I got there too late have one close to the water, which was the view I preferred. I plod past and found a hidden one that was very nice with the sunrise in the morning. Anyway, bugs were HORRIBLE so bring your bug spray, but I could sit in the tent with the door open and they didn't touch me.