Snow Lake — Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022

Bottom Line:

"The 10 11 Essentials", #11 An N95 mask, preferably with a respirator, or KN95 to handle a sudden onset of dense wildfire smoke :) This trip started crystal clear, but smoke started to pour in from 3 directions at the lake - the Snow Lake saddle, the Snow Lake outlet to the Middle Fork Snoqualmie valley, and through Melakwa Pass. With the mask, I could pretend it was "morning mist", and in many ways there is some beauty to the smoke (see pics/video). This lake never disappoints - it is stunning, even with encroaching smoke. The video captures the trail partial rebuild from the extended closure this summer for those that may have not seen the work. The essential nature of the trail remains intact but the switchbacks up from the Source Lake junction are much tamer (and safer - more on that below).

Stats:

• Distance: 8-1/2 miles
• Duration: 2-3/4 hours
• Vertical: 1850 feet
• Road/Parking: Sporadic cars in the Alpental parking lot, so plenty of room; National Forest pass required
• Weather: I had checked the WSDOT cameras right before heading out about 1pm, and they showed clear, smoke-free skies from Denny Creek east. Heading up however, the dense smoke persisted... and persisted... I was getting concerned. It literally broke at the Alpental exit, and Alpental valley was clear, but I could surmise that the smoke was drifting east (despite what I thought was a forecast for southeast winds) based on the change from the WSDOT camera - time to get a move on! "Smoke dodging" is adding a whole new element to planning a hike. NOTE: The I90 hikes today west of the summit were universally socked in with dense smoke as far as I could tell. There was a temperature inversion with Alpental much warmer than North Bend, adding to the dense surface smoke. Headed up from the trailhead in summer-like 70s weather and beautiful sunshine, but the smoke did start to drift in while I was in the lake basin. At one point, I could hear an unusual amount of rock fall across the lake, but could not see anything! Lots of pika out today actually approaching me rather than running away (see video) - maybe they want to complain to someone/anyone about the smoke too :)
• Trail: Trail was pretty quiet for such a beautiful day... mostly people coming down rather than going up in the afternoon. The rebuilt trail is a thing of beauty - wow, great job. The attached video includes a significant chunk of the rebuilt section (mainly the switchbacks from the Source Lake junction up to the Snow Lake bench) presented a little sped up to keep the video short. The rockiest part of the trail, with roots and significant step ups, is now the section from the trailhead to the Source Lake junction, which has minimal work (or work that is much more subtle anyway). That suits me just fine - I was concerned that the nature of the trail would change. But... a few years ago, we were hiking down the upper switchbacks, and a woman in a backpack tipped over on a high switchback (in part due to an uneven trail) and rolled violently down the slope (perpendicular to the trail) down two additional levels of switchbacks, to come to rest far below. It was terrifying to witness. I was standing next to her little son who was screaming and took him down to his mother. I hope she is ok today (NOTE: one should not move such a person without first doing a spinal check, which did not happen this day, as it took us time to get down to her). The memory makes me shiver. Anyway... long story short... the switchbacks needed work and were dangerous in places given the high usage. The character of the trail has been retained while making it much safer. Today, we meant to head to Gem Lake, but stopped at the lake outlet to Snoqualmie Middle Fork valley due to the smoke infiltrating the lake basin. This is where I put on my KN95 mask, which worked surprisingly well even when heading uphill and breathing more heavily :) "It's beautiful morning mist" I told myself :) The trail is very dry with no water except for the lake itself. Even the waterfall into the lake when the trail first reaches the lake has dried up. Rain - please!! Fall color is at peak and especially pops against the azure blue of the lake.
• Takeaway: Snow Lake is beautiful in almost any conditions. It is deservedly popular. Some solitude can be had by heading around the lake to the log bridge (which is falling apart btw) over the lake outlet - reliably peaceful :) The trip had different conditions than I had seen before (smoke) and the nice thing about this lake is how it changes with the seasons, from an early snowshoe this year, to a pack-raft in July, with icebergs, waterfalls, islands and steep cliffs adjacent to a pretty inaccessible part of the lake. This weekend might see some snow in the basin, offering yet for the lake to change character, provided it is not socked in ;)

Only phone pics today so I could travel light. The video is in 4K. I included an elk pic from Snoqualmie on the way home. Rutting season, so lots of activity, including males locking antlers (see end of video). Included a link to the BlueSky smoke forecast models if you want to obsess over the smoke forecast (for a couple more days?) at a trail-level of granularity, because why not :)

More Information on this Trip Report

• https://tools.airfire.org/websky/v2/#status