Stirrup Lake

We took our kids on this short walk (about a mile each way) on this gorgeous fall day. Just over an hour from Seattle we found old growth trees, nice views, a pretty little lake with a sandy beach, more berries than we could even think of picking, and absolute solitude!Never saw a soul. The secret - it's near Stampede Pass. Who'd ever go there! we accessed the lake via the PCT. The side trail to Stirrup is a bit overgrown.

On the drive up we considered hiking Granite Mtn, instead. By contrast, the parking was packed, the trailhead was so loud from the highway we could hardly hear each other talk, and we ran over someone's left over dog poop in the parking lot. We bailed on that idea and were so glad we did!!!