Rachel Lake

We got an early start to the day, conscious of the fact that a day-hike anywhere along the I-90 corridor in July would be fairly popular. Pulling into the trailhead at by 9, we saw that there were already plenty of folks tackling the trail. Luckily, the trail itself was pretty sparse of hikers.

Hiking in the summer, there are three things that herald the arrival of hiking season in Seattle: the removal of ski-attachments on subaru roof-racks, huckleberries, and Korean hikers (as eternal as the swallows returning to Capistrano). On this trip, Jessica and I were witness to no less than 20 Korean hikers in their native habitat and once again, my skin flushed with ethnic pride. Go K-force!

One interesting addition to the Rachel Lake trail: water hiking. With a higher-than-normal snowpack melting off, the water has diverted onto trail for the last half-mile or so up to the lake, making for some interesting route finding skills. The water, along with the verticalness of the hike makes for a fun diversion (about 1,600 feet in the last mile), so it wasn't long until we found ourselves staring at one of the prettiest lakes in the Cascades.

After lunch, we returned back to our vehicle, thankful we weren't among the masses starting the hike in near-ninety degree temps. Until next time, Ms. Rachel!

More details, pics can be found here: http://www.seattlecasbah.com/[…]/rachel-lake-part-the-third.html