Information about this hike provided in partnership with
Mountaineers Books.
Copyright © Dan A. Nelson/The Mountaineers Books Summit Lake
Featured In:
Day Hiking: Snoqualmie Region,
by Dan A. Nelson and Alan L. Bauer.
A portion of all book sales from the links above benefits WTA and helps protect and maintain our trails. The trail climbs through a brush-filled clear-cut before diving under the thick canopy of dense second-growth forest. You'll continue to climb, swinging wide across a steep hillside before reaching a trail junction and a small tarn at 1 mile. The pond, Twin Lake (why is a single lake named twin?), is little more than a mosquito nursery much of the summer, so you won't want to linger. Go left at the trail junction to loop around the western side of the lake basin before climbing the wall to the north of the lake. After 1 mile of climbing, the trail traverses west along the ridge, breaking out of the forest periodically for nice views south to Mount Rainier. At 2.5 miles the trail slides along the shore of Summit Lake (elev. 5400 ft). This lake is a true alpine lake--wide, cold, and crystal clear. On calm, clear days the lake is a mirrorlike surface that reflects massive Mount Rainier. Wildflowers dot the lakeshores, providing color from the moment the snow melts off (avalanche and glacier lilies) to late summer (spreading phlox and paintbrush). In between you'll find beargrass, lupine, and others too numerous to name. There are campsites around the lake and additional trail miles above the lake bowl for those who just can't bring themselves to leave the lovely basin.
Driving Directions:
From Enumclaw drive west on State Route 410 (Chinook Pass Highway) to SR 165. Proceed on SR 165 to the Carbon River Road/Mowich Lake Highway junction. Turn left onto Carbon River Road and follow it to Cayada Creek Road (Forest Road 7810), just before the national park entrance. Turn left (north) and drive about 6.8 miles to the trailhead at the end of FR 7810. Recent Trip Reports
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Day hike
Issues:
Mudholes
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Not the most beautiful day for a hike, but if you only want to hike in the sun, you should...
Not the most beautiful day for a hike, but if you only want to hike in the sun, you should move somewhere else :) Headed up to Summit Lake in a heavy, misty fog-rain. There were about 6 cars at the trail head and we encountered several of these folks coming down, as we got a late start. As we got around the first big switchback (and the only blowdown on the trail,) a man passed us-he had just been pulling into the parking lot as we started up the trail. Yes, I felt old and slow after that, maybe I should change my trail name.
The first few hundred yards of this trail are pretty steep and very rocky. Hiking poles were handy here. I would not want to do this trail in the spring, I think it might actually be a tiny river. The trail goes up from here, but in a much smoother fashion. We finally got to the lake, but it would have been possible to walk right past it-it was so foggy/misty (see photo.)There were some guys camped at the lake, we didn't see them, but we heard them, and smelled their campfire (despite all of the signs posted no fires at the lake.) We had a chilly, damp lunch and headed back down the trail. The downhill always goes so much faster! Of course, as we got back to the parking lot the skies started to clear up. We got some nice views of little Twin Lake and the surrounding mountains. Day hike
Features:
Ripe berries
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The weather was wet but the trail is good. The few blowdowns are easy to cross, there wasn't much mud...
The weather was wet but the trail is good. The few blowdowns are easy to cross, there wasn't much mud and the bugs were not out on this rainy day. We saw about 30 other people on the trail. There was a small bus in the parking lot which must have brought quite a few of them. The road is fine but you do need to go slow.
We will do this one again on a sunny day. Overnight
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Blowdowns | Bugs
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This is a great hike for kids. It's not too far from civilization (i.e. less "are we there yet"s), the...
This is a great hike for kids. It's not too far from civilization (i.e. less "are we there yet"s), the trail is in great shape, short, and mostly shady, the views at the top are phenomenal, and there's a lake to play in.
My boys (ages 8 & 10) and I spent one night at the lake over the long weekend. Of course it was somewhat crowded (Labor Day), but we expected that. There are a number of campsites about the lake, including several on the west side, which are harder to get to and lack a ready water source (being up on the ridge), but are more secluded. The bugs were thick in the evening and morning, which is probably not the norm for September. The flowers were also thick in the meadows; Lilies, paintbrush, lupine, etc. Very beautiful. Hiking up the ridge on the southwest side of the lake is a must. It's a fairly short (but steep) climb up. The lake color changes to a deep blue/green when viewed from above. At the top, you are higher than everything in the vicinty other than Bearhead Mountain and Mt. Rainier. Views are spectacular. We were watching hawks soaring below us. Lots of butterflies up there, too. The Forest road to the trailhead has the usual washboards, etc., but is in good shape (we drove it in a Suburban).
Summit Lake
— Sep 02, 2011
— TripleHHikers
Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Blowdowns | Bugs
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Nice easy hike to a beautiful lake. We had a great day and the conditions were perfect. We...
Nice easy hike to a beautiful lake. We had a great day and the conditions were perfect. We suggest this on a week day as we are sure it is busy on the weekends. We ran into very few people on the Friday before Labor Day weekend. Bugs were out, so bring the repellent. Wild flowers are everywhere! Hike up to the ridge--it is so worth it! See the full review with great pics!
http://triplehhikers.blogspot.com/2011/09/summit-lake.html Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Blowdowns | Bugs
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Reading the previous trip report for this hike (at least the lake portion) gives a very different perspective than the...
Reading the previous trip report for this hike (at least the lake portion) gives a very different perspective than the one I'm going to present. I had a great time, in nearly every aspect (the only negative being in my slight physical limitations- I am not a mountain goat).
The FS Rd 7810 is a rough road, but presents very few problems other than that. My Subaru ate it up! My group hiked to the junction, then up to Bearhead Mtn. I had heard of blowdowns, but they barely delayed us (I suggest going either below or over/under the most difficult). After some climbing, we began to contour and the views of Rainier emerged. Once on the summit trail, the flowers were coming up in force. The summit of Bearhead Mtn was super-duper! Views included Mt Baker, Glacier and Stuart to the north and Rainier, of course, to the south. Most of us also trekked over to the other summit. Our next stop was Summit Lake, at 5,400'. I knew there were a lot of people there due to the cars at the TH, plus from reading all the trip reports, but it seemed like they were well dispersed. There is also a kiddie pool there (not kidding) with warmer, shallow water. But a few of us chose to swim in Summit and it wasn't horribly cold and helped to cool us off on this very hot day. Were there bugs on the trail? Yes, but nothing unusual or unmanageable. I have been doing great with my citronella spray that has no nasty chemicals. There looked to be some nice camp spots at the lake and plenty of places to explore to from there. |
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