Deception Lakes

Started the morning with breakfast at the Mountain View Diner in Goldbar-great place to eat! Drive Highway 2 and take first right after the Skykomish Ranger Station onto West Foss River Road and go about 23 miles on Road 6830 to the road end and park at side of road after the trailhead sign.

The Surprise Lake trail is in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and begins with a downhill short cut crossing Deception Creek twice. Saw some beautiful orange Indian paintbrush at the start. The trail at the beginning is narrow and somewhat overgrown with vegetation but easy to follow. The second crossing is on a well established foot log and very shortly after is the junction with the Deception Creek Trail. This short cut saves about 4.5 miles of coming down Deception Creek Trail 1059.

Turn right and go 2.3 miles to a major creek crossing of 2 creeks next to each other. At this point we could hear thunder in the distance and it started to rain lightly. It would rain on and off for the rest of the hike, wetting the vegetation and keeping our legs cool. Shortly after the creek crossing there is a sign showing Deception Lakes to the left (Trail 1059A). The trail climbs probably 700-800’ to pass by the Pacific Crest Trail junction to Deception Lakes, a short distance further. The trail puts on a beautiful face at the PCT junction with blooming pink heather plants to enjoy. The lakes are very pretty with excellent campsites that could serve as a base camp to explore other lakes on the Pacific Crest Trail.

This is a beautiful forest hike, most of it in shade, which helps with heat on a hot day. It is not a dark shade, so visibility is great. There is no snow on the trail, mostly dirt trail with mild ups and downs, and the blow downs have been cut and removed to side of trail.
The bugs were voracious at the lakes and to a lesser extent at lower elevations. We saw only 6 people on a Saturday.