Stats
- Distance: 10-3/4 miles
- Vertical: 3050 feet
- Duration: 6 hours
- Weather: Cloudy with sunny periods; 60s, light wind at top
- Bugs: No bugs except for wet/marshy areas of Commonwealth Basin
- Takeway: Mostly a moderate hike up until the end of the maintained trail at the top of the ridge looking into Alpine Lakes, and the base of the ascent up to Lundin Peak. The "abandoned" trail from near the PCT/Commonwealth junction down to the trailhead creates a nice partial loop (see map below) and is a much more direct way down than the PCT itself. Although "abandoned", the trail is well maintained. This is a pretty area with good fall color and Alpine Lakes wilderness views.
This was my first non-Rainier hike in awhile, yet I led with another Rainier picture (enhanced a bit due to distance and glare). I guess I just cannot get enough! As was the case with my recent trip to Van Trump Park, a beautiful lenticular cloud hovered over the mountain (like the spaceship in the old paperpack for Author C Clark's Childhoods End). The views from high elevations in Snoqualmie Pass were stunning.
The trail to Commonwealth Basin starts at the PCT trailhead on the road to Alpental. There are two lots, one medium sized and the other quite small, with people usually parked on the side of the road on the way up. I usually instead park in the gravel lot at Snoqualmie Summit West, walk under the I-90 overpass, and meet up with the thru-hiker PCT trailhead mere steps away. This avoids the congestion of the lots :)
The trail follows the PCT for the first ~2 miles, with its well maintained trail and switchbacks. Lots of beautiful Devil's Club at lower elevations. At the 2-mile mark you reach the junction for the Commonwealth Basin trail and head left/down. You shortly pass a trail on your left marked "Abandoned" - this was the trail on the return to make a loop out of the bottom part of the trail (for some full-loop hikes, see here and here).
Commonwealth Basin is fairly flat for a distance with flowers, streams, and lots of berries - blueberries, huckleberries, and some others I did not recognize. The trail has that dank smell of fall, although some flowers remain at higher elevations. Eventually the trail turns north, and you begin the ascent up a ridge towards the saddle between Red and Lundin mountains. The switchbacks up this ridge are quite tight, but never too steep. There are good peek-a-boo views across the valley to the right and up to the brightly fall-colored PCT where it traverse a rocky slope before turning north towards to the Kendall Katwalk. On the left, there are views up to the white granite of Snoqualmie Mountain. Eventually, you finish climbing the ridge, and reach a tarn, and a boot path up Red Mountain on the right. That would need to wait for another day, as our destination was the saddle, and then partially up Lundin peak.
After a refueling stop at the tarn, we headed up a set of switchbacks first etched into scree slopes, and then winding through the forest, all the while with good views of Red Mountain. Upon reaching the saddle, the views north into the Alpine Lake Wilderness open up. There was cloud today, so could not see the top of Mt Daniel, but would soon see the unmistakeable Mt Stewart in the distance.
The saddle forms a farily narrow ridge, and you traverse west with the lower reaches of Mt Lundin coming into view. Once you reach the "end of maintained trail" sign, you can keep going on a clearly defined trail, ascending the rocky slopes of Mt Lundin and its explosion of fall color. The trail at this point goes up and up, with better and better views particularly down to the saddle, Red Mountain, the PCT, and the backside of Kendall Katwalk. There is no real exposure on the trail itself, but you are definitely near steep dropoffs in rocky and loose terrain. We went all the way up to a high point before the final ascent to Lindin Peak, lacking the proper equipment (including helmets) to really proceed any farther. The views of the basin connection Mt Lundin and Snoqualmie Mt are outstanding.
On our return, we took the aforementioned "abandoned" trail near the PCT and Commonwealth Trail junction. The trail descending into a river valley with several crossing, but is well maintained and you will not get wet. The trail is definitely a little steep and rocky in its lower reaches, but nothing too bad (especially since we were going down, not up). This makes for a worthwhile change of pace on the descent, with several beautiful spots by the river. It is also a much faster descent, avoiding the switchbacks on the PCT, and the relative crowds on that trail. We saw few people on Commonwealth Basin and beyond, but there were many people on the early stretch of the PCT.
Many Pika and Marmots from the tarn on up, and I captured a couple of the latter in the video below (I did not know Marmot like mountain blueberry so much!). Trail obstacles consisted of one down tree on the ascent to the basin, some overgrown sections of the "abandoned" trail at the PCT junction, and a loose, rocky trail up Lundin with some exposure.
Note: Videos are posted to YouTube in "unlisted" mode
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