Denny Creek, Snow Lake, Melakwa Lake, Chair Peak Lake, Melakwa Pass

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.