Trip Reports

Hiked in to Packwood Lake on trail #78. Nice day, the trail is clear of snow and blowdowns. A few muddy places, but not bad. No one else at the lake, checked out one of the campsites along the side of the lake, found the fire pit full of tin cans etc., and a plastic bag of beer bottles in the pit toilet on the floor. My friend and I put the trash and bottles in other plastic bags and hauled it out. Before heading out, we hiked to the end of the lake, again, trail ok, no snow. We hiked back to the car via the service road/trail, no blow downs on that either. We met a service person from the dam coming in on an ATV, and he took the garbage for us which was great as we were tired of it hanging and swaying from our day packs.

We did our monthly group PNWH backpacking trip, up to Packwood Lake this weekend. The trail itself is in great shape...ok, minus the horse that had the ""trots"" in front of us. Yuck. Saw almost no one-due to the rain. We camped just past the Goat Rocks Wilderness boundary on an area that jutted out into the lake. Some of the group dayhiked up to Mosquito Lake and did hit snow, but it was small patches and dirty. Just avoid the campsites near the ranger station at the head of the lake, and it is a pretty place to backpack to. Those sites had a lot of scarring and garbage sadly. The loons on the lake are just gorgeous, and the fish were jumping.

I drove up to the Packwood lake trailhead Saturday after work to find it deserted. I slept in the car, and Sunday morning I went back into Packwood for breakfast, then returned to the trailhead. I hit the trail at 2 pm, not in any hurry. The first two miles of the aquaduct trail were snow-free, then it was patchy for a while, then got deep enough to put the snowshoes on, then it disappeared again, then got deep again, then was all gone when I got to the lake. If I went back tomorrow, I would definitely leave the snowshoes home. There was some blow-down to negotiate, but nothing to bad. The lake is very scenic, with a small island making a nice foreground to pictures of Johnson Peak in the distance. I explored the aquaduct entry area, and an old cabin that had a strange boat in it, apparently made of skins stretched over a frame. There was a nice campsite at the northeast corner of the lake, so I settled in for the sunset, made dinner and hung my hammock. There was deer poop everywhere, at least 20 piles in my campsite alone. I was very glad I hadn't brought the dog and a tent. The temperatures were hot when the wind came up the valley, and cold if they came from over the lake and down from the glaciers. I was serenaded to sleep by an owl and the yipping of some coyotes when the moon came out. Monday morning I lounged around taking pictures, then motivated at noon and headed to the south end of the lake, and got some nice views of Rainier. I needed my GPS to find the Upper Lake Creek trail due to some snow in the woods, but once found it was easy to follow. It wound its way upstream just a few feet up the bank that borders the creek bottom, which is very interesting. I couldn't tell if a forest grew up in the middle of a braided stream, or if a stream had invaded a forest. I had hoped to go far enough to get a view of Packwood Glacier, but once I was about 1/2 mile beyond Beaver Creek, I knew that was an unrealistic goal, still 2 more miles ahead, and the woods were pretty dense, so a view may have been unlikely anyway. I went back to the lake, and explored the mud flats where the streams meet the lake, getting some more good photos of Rainier and Johnson Pk. I did the two miles back to camp in just 65 minutes because the lakeshore trail is snow-free and in excellent shape. The permit box at the wilderness boundary says there is a $100 fine for not having a permit even for day use, and there was no pencil in the box. Oh well. The 11th essential: a pen. The lake was 90 percent melted out Monday morning, 100 percent by late afternoon. Monday night was another display of planets, stars and the moon, with more owls but no coyotes. Tuesday dawned gray and drizzly, so I packed up and then hung out a while under my tarp that I use as a rain fly for the hammock, hoping for some last views or maybe an end to the rain. At 10:30 I gave up and left, and the rain stopped about an hour later, so the delayed start did help. I went back a slightly different way, heading up and over a 200 ft bump, following some snowmobile tracks, instead of countouring around the bump like on the way in. I got back at 1 pm, 2 1/2 hours to go 4 1/2 miles, maybe 1/3 snow-covered. As I approached the trailhead, I saw red tape crossing the trail in several places, and there were small bits of paper held down by rocks at numerous spots, each piece of paper marked with notes like ""#2"" or ""#8"". Weird. When I stopped for lunch in Packwood, I was informed that someone had committed suicide at the trailhead Monday night. The tape and markers then made tragic sense. How sad. Still it was a great trip, and having the entire lake to myself for three days made it special. I was surprised at the quantity of truly giant trees, the scenic quality of the lake, and the great mountain views. The downsides to this hike, the crowds and the motorized access, were not in evidence this trip. A big thanks goes out to Bev Blanchard and Eric Willhite, whose recent trip reports alerted me to the fact that this trip was now open.

After arriving in the town of Packwood, WA on Friday night, around 7:30 p.m., it was decided, ok I decided that my brother Don, my daughter Lori and my dog Sophia would stay in a motel for the evening. It was our understanding that a lot of snow had fallen during the week, and I did not want to start snowshoeing after dark for 5-6 miles to reach the trailhead. When we arrived in Packwood, we did not see any snow at all, and asked about it when checking in to the motel, no snow there, just rain and hail. I guess when you get on Internet and type in Packwood, WA, it is White Pass information that you receive. The people at the motel said that the road to the trailhead was clear up to about 1 mile prior to the lake.

After setting up ""camp"" in the motel, we took a walk in the dark, and came across a herd of elk, exciting, walking across the road from the backside of Packwood. The stars were out and it was beautiful, promising to be a good day on Saturday.

We got up on Saturday morning, packed up, and headed for breakfast since we could not fire up the stove at the motel. We jumped back into the truck after breakfast, and headed for what we thought would be at least a mile hike to the trailhead of the Lake. Low and behold, we were able to drive all the way up, with a bit of snow on the road just before the trailhead parking area. Very exciting to say the least. The weather was cool up there, but beautiful. We unloaded the truck, hefted our packs on, including Sopia's on her. We decided to carry the snowshoes until we had to use them.

We dropped down to Road #066, the service road to the lake. No snow on the road as far as we could see, so made pretty good time. By the time we arrived at the staging area for the Forest Service, it was time to start taking off some of the ""winter"" hiking clothes, as it was warm. We were hiking on snow by then, but still carrying our snowshoes, no sense to put them on unless we had to. After about an hour of post holing every once in awhile etc., we decided that we had better wear the snowshoes. We made much better time with the snowshoes, and so much easier to walk with the full packs. We did have about 4 trees to go under, around and over, no fun but doable. We had about 1-2' of snow along the way, maybe as much as 3' in somes places. Once we arrived at Packwood Lake, we were able to take the snowshoes off. The West side of the lake is pretty much snowed in while the East side is mostly snowfree. The old ranger cabin at the lake is locked up again which is good as it is a historical cabin. There was about 6-9"" of snow there. As soon as we crossed the bridge over the outlet of the lake, we were mostly on bare trail, with just a couple of small patches of snow. The lake is mostly frozen over, with about 20' melted away from the East side of the lake. No one else at the lake when we arrived. We found camp, set up, had our lunch and then Don, Sophia and I headed up the trail for the end of the lake. Lori decided to stay in camp and just rest. (This was a first backpack trip for her in a very long time and a first with snowshoes.) We could see steam coming up from the end of the lake and wanted to check it out. Of course we found ""dry"" wood or branches for a fire that night along the way, and knew that we would have to ""pack"" it back to camp. Arriving at the end of the lake, we found the steam radiating up from the sand bar as it was so warm. Mt. Rainier was so beautiful from the far end of the lake. Johnson Peak was beautiful from our camp, with all the snow on it. Arriving back in camp, it was time to think about dinner, and evening, and wondering when we could all go to bed as we were very tired after a beautiful day. It was fairly warm during the day until about 5:00 p.m. and then turned very cold.

On Sunday, 21st, we got up to clear skies again, got breakfast, broke camp and headed back to the truck about 9:50 am. We hated to leave, but it was time, and all of us having to get back to work on Monday. We decided to take trail #78 back to the truck. We carried our snowshoes till we got back to the old ranger cabin, then put them on. We had a tree, small one that we had to go up and over just after leaving the lake. The trail is covered in snow with 1'to 4' along the way. It is a steady uphill pull for about 4 miles, and all of this pretty much in snow. Lori and I were tired to say the least hiking out. There were about 4 trees that we had to go over on the way out, 5 counting the one just up from the lake. There is one very dicy section on the snow that is not recommended for kids until it melts out. If a person was to lose their footing, it is a long way to the bottom, very scary. There is one more short section of the same type, but not like that first one. The first one is probably about 3 miles from the lake, not sure on that one, but you can't miss it. It was very nice to get off the snow and on to ""regular"" trail. We met 3 young guys going in to the lake, not long after the dicy section, wearing shorts, tennis shoes, no socks, and carrying a water bottle, small one. I guess one of them had a very small day pack but that is all. Not a good thing to do on the trail conditions at this time. The day was beautiful, and very warm when we got back to the truck and only one other vehicle in the parking lot. On the way back to Packwood, we did see 3 more vehicles heading for the trailhead.

We stopped in Packwood at Ma & Pa Burgers, a regular thing to do when we come out from the lake, very good food and ice cream! Then Don drove to Morton for me to pick up my car, and Lori, Sophia and all our gear were put in to my car, and we headed for Chehalis, and Don for Renton. After getting to Chehalis, Lori picked up her van and headed for home in Matlock. A very good weekend even if it was hard for a snowshoe/backpack trip, first of the season.

Snow prevents access to the trailhead about a half mile before the parking area. Once on the trail in the woods, it's fairly clear for the first mile. After that, it's on snow then off snow for a few miles with the final mile being several feet deep still. At the lake we found the cabin open. This was good news as one of my scouts was suffering from some cold, wet feet. Saturday we awoke to some warm sunny weather. The lake level was down and was still frozen over. We took the ""road"" trail out since it had snowmobile tracks that were much easier to walk. The tracks ended up taking us down an even lower road (road 1262). Just past the gate marked on the green trails map, I dropped my pack and hiked up the dead-end spur road going in a SW direction. Near the end of this spur, I climbed up 600 feet through the woods and found myself at my parked car. Jumped in and drove down to pick everyone up.

Lena The Dog and I left Olympia at about 8:00 AM and arrived at the trailhead just outside of Packwood shortly after 10:00. Nice spot to park - great views of Rainier and the Goat Rocks, and a fancy-new potty to boot!

Two trails will get you to the lake - we took the upper trail (#78) on the way in and took the lower one (#?) on the way out. Trail starts at about 2000', gets up to 3200' or so, before dropping to the lake at about 2900'. Tail is very smooth and gentle, well maintained, and offers a couple of mountain views. Only saw a few snow patches far off the trail. Lena enjoyed the 3-4 spots of running water across the path for easy drinks - it's easier than waiting for me to get her water bowl and bottle out anyway.

The lake is very pretty with a big mountain (name?) out in all of it's glory beyond the south end of the lake. Took some pictures and just sat and watched the trees, water and mountain for a couple of hours. I can't think of many better ways to burn an afternoon.

Took the lower trail back to the car. It offered many views of the valley and mountains to the north (including the Big One) - but these appear to have come as a result of development by the hydro power company (I assume so anyway).

Nice trail. Saw a few groups of overnight campers heading to the south end of the lake. At the time we got back to the car (4:30 PM), the lot was packed. Lena seemed happy to get the trip in at a time of relative solitude. This trail must be a super-highway during the weekends.

The trip to Packwood Lake was a much better experience than the one on Good Friday. All the blowdowns have been cleared on the footpath as well as on the service road. Nevertheless, My trip to Packwood Saddle was cut short because of the numerous blowdowns there. After about 2 miles, my master turned us around. I didn't have any problems, because I could crawl under the blowdowns (they were high enough for my dog legs), but my master had a hard time scrambling around or over them. He finally gave up because we had to negotiate all of them on the way back. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant experience for te two of us.

Gorgeous day for a hike. Trail was fairly clear of snow. Lots of blowdowns on trail.Many were already cleared off. Had the trail to ourselves both in and out. We trekked a bit further to head up to Mosquito Lake but trail was pretty heavy with snow for quite a long distance. Although you could follow the trail thanks to good blaze marks and a set of boot prints that had been up there too. We gave up just short of the Mosquito Lake and called it a good day. Headed back to Packwood Lake for a munch break and then out to the trailhead we went. Lots of fish jumping in the lake and lots of beautiful ducks.

4 of us headed up to Packwood Lake on Friday afternoon. Got to the trailhead at 4:30 and reached out camping spot by 6:30, which was 1/4 mile from the outlet bridge. We counted 25 downed trees on the trail section, varied sizes. 2 had to be on hands and knees, 1 had to go up and around, the rest were step over. Snow started fairly soon from the trailhead but was scattered. The solid snow (at least 90% coverage) started about 1/4 mile from the wilderness boundary. Anywhere from nothing to 6 inches, depended on the openess of the tree cover. The snow ended just as you make the switchback that drops you down to the lake. The lake boundary was snowfree, some down by the damn. There are two blowdown just beyond the crossing of the outlet, both you had to go down and around. One is now fairly easily walked under since I took the trusty Sven saw to her this morning. We saw Cat tracks and Elk tracks in the snow. One lonely elk was bugling on all three nights. I didn't think they did that in the spring but man is sure did sound like it. Heard it again this morning before we came out (Sunday). Talked to two guys on Saturday who came in the road way and said they had to cross 50 or so downed trees. Mostly small but a few had to find other ways around. The trail around the lake heading to the inlet was in much better shape. Did a little trail clearing on the way back from the dayhike on Saturday. Two other gents were camped at the inlet camps. Snowed down to about 3000 feet Saturday night, a couple hundred feet above the lake. Saw and destroyed one humungus skeeter, you know, those lazy low flying ones you see in the spring. Weather was clouds, rain, sun, wind, 5/8 moon, it was a perfect spring hike in the great northwest. Thats all, thanks for listening.

Certainly a sign of an unusually warm winter when one can hike into packwood lake on the first day of february..... the groundhog may or may not see it's shadow today, but winter (at least in the pacific northwest) is pretty much over.....

we were the only ones parked at the access area.. no snow until you get up near the high point of the hiking trail and the snow over the trail was a few inches deep at most, but even that was very sparse.... and there was one blowdown, but it was very easy to negotiate....

Lake is totally ice free (still a bit green from glacial melt) and the snow line looks to be about 500 feet vertical above the lake, but it doesn't look like there is any depth of the snow until you get up another 1,000 feet or so... (packwood lake elevation is just under 3000 feet).........

Trail access parking is at about 2,000 feet of elevation....

in a normal february the snow line is at around 1500 feet and you can't even get to the parking area without a snowmobile or cross country skis, so being able to hike into the lake on Feb. 1 without being fully winterized is very, very unusual...

No Bugs!!! NO BUGS!!! This may have been my first trip this summer without bugs! My Mountaineer group headed to Packwood Lake. This is a 9 miles very easy hike to a beautiful lake. The road to the trail is paved all the way and it dead-ends at the trail head. It can't get easier than that. From the parking area, you have a view of Mt. Rainier. At 10:30, the parking lot had only a few cars. I was expecting a huge crowd. I forgot this was Labor Day weekend when I scheduled this hike for the Go-Guide. So I was plesantly surprised. This trail is mostly under a nice forrest cover with peek-a-boo views of Rainier. The trail is dusty but clear or any debris. We made it to the lake in 1 1/2 hours for the faster group and 1 hour 45 minutes for the wanderers. As you are getting close to the lake you see this massive emerald-colored lake through the trees. The color of this lake is awesome! The lake sits under Johnson Peak. A few of us braved the cold water and took a lunch time swim. It was refreshing! We met up with another small group at the lake, two mountain bikers and 1 motorcyclist. Other than that...no body. I keep hearing about how popular this lake is and this was my second trip on a holiday weekend with only a few hikers to be found. I hope I never run into the rumored crowds. After lunch we made the return trip on the ATV road. We past a small group of backpackers heading to the lake and no one else. The town of Packwood was having some huge festival and traffic was slow getting out of Packwood. Our group decided to drive to Eatonville for dinner and a break from the long drive home to Tacoma. We stopped at ""Between the Bread"" restaurant and had a delicious dinner and lovely conversation. A very good day. I'll have to backpack it here one day.

Decided to take a look at Packwood Lake. The road is paved all the way to the trailhead where there is a large parking lot. Due to our late start, we didn't arrive at the parking area until 10:30 AM and there were quite a few cars in the lot at that time. The trail itself was in pretty good shape. We took the upper trail to the lake and were surprised to see a little snow in the shadows. Lots of people at the lake which included both overnighters and dayhikers. Enjoyed lunch at the lake and decided to go back along the lower trail. This trail is shorter and less hilly than the upper trail. It is open to motorized traffic though we only saw one motorcyclist the whole way back. One nice thing is that the lower trail has some tremendous views of Mt. Ranier and the Cowlitz River valley which the upper trail doesn't have. The bad thing is that at the end of the ATV trail there is no easy way back to the parking lot except to loop around to the main road and climb back to the parking lot. Good hike.

Jerry, the 2 girls (dogs) & I arrived at the Packwood Lake trailhead at about 8:15 a.m. on Saturday morning. The parking lot was free of snow as was the trail #78 as far as we could see. The pipeline road below was snowfree from what we could see also. We chose to take the pipeline road in to the lake as I had been told that the trail #78 had quite a bit of snow on it. The day was overcast with sun breaks and a few sprinkles. The pipeline road/trail was snow free, no problems for about 3/4 of the way, maybe a little less. We had about 5-6 trees that we had to climb over or go around but not bad. We ended up having about 1 mile, guessing of continuous snow going in and coming out, about from 1-2' but not bad. It was compacted enough that it was not to hard to walk on. We did not use snowshoes. Bicycles, Motorcycles and ATV's cannot get in to the lake at this time because of the snow.

Arriving at the lake, there was no snow at all, the lake beautiful with Johnson Peak in full view and snow on the ridges, so beautiful. There was only one other campsite taken when we arrived, and we were able to go to our favorite spot.

We set up camp, got a nice small fire going, and just enjoyed the day, hanging out in camp and reading and taking a small hike up towards the lake inlet on the Upper Lake Creek trail, #81. That part of the trail is snowfree also, as far as I went, which was about 3/4s of the way to the end of the lake. There are 2 trees down across the trail, but you can get over them ok, they are together and someone has chopped a place out to get over. Lots of branches on the trail in places, I kicked them out of the way, and picked up some of them. Of course I had wished I had my WTA tools to do some work, but alas had to be satisfied with just looking. There is sloughing, brushing needed done on the trail, but pretty good shape.

We were able to listen and see a couple of Loons, a Bald Eagle, fish jumping, a Barrows Goldeneye, not sure on that one, but black head, white belly, with black wings with white stripes, so pretty. The sunset was beautiful!

Heading out from camp on Sunday the 19th, we discovered there were about 20 people camping around the lake, so quiet you did not know they were there. Some people had brought there rubber rafts and were fishing. We were thinking about taking the upper trail, #78 back out, but decided not to because of having snow on the trail. We could see patches up the trail, and a couple of tiny patches near the Ranger cabin.

We arrived at the car at about 11:30 a.m., loaded up our stuff and headed back to civilization. Of course we had to stop at Ma & Pa's Burgers and have one of their great Ma Bugers loaded with everything. Ok, not the best for you, but oh so good.

All in all a great weekend.

I hiked the service road into Packwood Lake, once the route of a narrow gauge railroad into the lake around the turn of the 20th C. when developers hoped that they would be major supplier of electricity to Tacoma. It never worked out that way, although for years there was a resort of sort on lake until about the middle of the last decade. At any rate, the service road-it's barely wide enough for 4 wheelers is about a mile less than the NFS trail into the lake, about 3.7 miles to the lake. There was a good deal of snow on the road about half way in, the road is roughly about the elevation of the lake, around 3000 feet. The trail around the lake, the Upper Lake creek trail is snow free around the lake but once it starts up away from he lake, it is snow covered. I talked to some guys who slogged in on the NFS trail and they said it was amost completely under snow, some of it deep. I like to fish at the upper end of the lake, where the creeks enter the lake, and did a fair job, catching a limit of trout--nothing extraordinary. No bait is allowed in the lake, and you have to use a single barbless hook--and fish must be over 10 inches in length. It's about two miles by trail to the upper end of the lake-5-6 rafts were on the lake during the day, a much shorter way to reach the upper end.

Packwood Lake is a large and beautiful, steep forested ridges tower above the Lake, Johnson Peak looms over the southern end of the lake, and when fishing at the south end of the lake, you get an interesting view of Rainier towering over the Tatoosh Range. Over the course of this weekend and the next, the snow on the forest service road will be beaten down making for easier walking. There are many excellent campsites all along the lake, I particulalry reccomend the ones toward the upper end, spectacular views of the lake, good access to fishing form the bank, fewer people, and yet protected under the canopy of a grove of huge cedars and firs.

Like most who use this trail undoubtedly, we took it as far as the lake. No hazards on this trail, no snow (although there were some icy spots in the latter part of the trail, where the air felt considerably cooler than earlier on even though we hadn't gained any elevation) and -- on Friday at least -- no people. (Although there were two other vehicles at the trailhead, we did not see anyone either on the trail or at the lake.) The biggest annoyance was seeing bicycle tracks on this hiker- and horse-only trail, including inside the wilderness area.

My brother,one of my sons & I did our annual night hike in to Packwood Lake. Partial moon with broken clouds and fairly ""warm"" for this time of the year. Beautiful views of the lights down in the Packwood Area. We parked at the main trailhead, then took the service road in to the lake as this is easier with head lamps. We had my sons 2 dogs with us, with their own packs. The service road going in is in pretty good condition, no logs down, no wash outs. Arriving at the lake we head for the campsite that we use all the time, 1/2 way along the lake. No one else at the lake. Beautiful!! There is one rather large log down across the trail about 1/8th to 1/4th mile from the N end of the lake. It is fairly easy to get across, and since we came in, a couple of people on horses chopped part of it out so it is easier yet to get across. Other than that log, just a few branches down here and there from the wind storm prior to that weekend. No rain on the 26th, and just drizzle all day on the 27th, starting about 10:00 a.m. We hiked to the end of the lake and around that, crossing about 5 creeks which come from the Packwood Saddle and Packwood Glacier area. Of course I managed to fall in to one of the creeks, so embarrising, but not hurt. Lots of elk activity at the upper end of the lake, but did not see any.

The drizzle stopped at 5:00 p.m. on the 27th, and we woke on Sunday, the 28th to beautiful clear skies and fantastic scenery. The snow level was just above our camp, probably about 300-400 feet. It was 28 degrees when we got up. Such beauty! Saw some ducks on the lake, heard a couple of owls but did not see them.

We had a nice tarp over the eating area, so stayed cozy and warm with our campfire and cozy tents. We each had our own tent and that was nice.

The trail is in good condition, not muddy or washed out. The wooden bridges and walkways were very slick coming out on the 28th due to the freezing weather so you need to be really careful. We took the trail back out, and it is in good condition, no standing water and no logs down at this time. There is one area where we are going to lose the trail due to large boulders breaking off and coming down. They are ready to go now and are located about 1/2 way to the lake, just approximate. You can't miss them, on the left side and up, a place where there has been acitivity prior.

Packwood Lake is just south of Packwood Washington. It's over a mile long and half a mile or so wide... At about 2900 ft., it is amongst those few mountain lakes in this state between 1500 and 3500 feet in elevation.... (most probably haven't thought about this, but Washington State has over 10,000 lakes virtually all of which are lowland lakes, e.g. lower than 1500 feet, or highland lakes, e.g. higher than 3500 feet... very, very few sit between these two elevation boundaries).

Packwood Lake also has very unique access and regulations...... This lake is one of only two I know of that sport both motorized and non-motorized trails (the other being Blue Lake along the south fork of the cispus river). The non-motorized trail is about 4.5 miles and the motorized one is half a mile or so shorter due to it's more direct path and lack of switchbacks.

The hiking trail still has snow patches at it's highest point. Nothing too difficult to negotiate, but a bit inconvenient.

This lake sees a lot of pressure during the summer from sport fishers who take rubber rafts and camping gear up on the back of their 4 wheel atv's. The lake is ""selective fishery"" and opens on the 4th saturday in April so this was ""opening day"".... These rules are very unique for a ""mountain lake""... all other mountain lakes I know of have a year round season..... Anyways, I wasn't fishing, just getting a little excercise and hoping for some nice weather so I could enjoy some of the lake's incredible scenery... I got the excercise, but the windy rainy weather spoiled the views..... There were probably half a dozen atv's parked at the ""atv parking area"" at the end of the motorized trail (atv's aren't allowed past this point) and 4 or 5 anglers casting along the shoreline and one out trolling from his rubber raft.... I saw no evidence of anybody catching anything........ If motoring up to a lake on a 4 wheeler and flopping into a rubber raft is the kind of fishing you like, this lake may be of interest... be ready for company though.... I showed up here in June a couple of years ago and the place was packed. Lots of campers, lots of atv's, lots of rubber rafts and float tubes on the lake, lots and lots of everything (including mosquitos)....

The ""sparse"" human presence there today was simply a function of it being a bit too early in the season for most of this lake's regulars................................

The trail to Packwood Lake was in pretty good shape until halfway up the lake, then it looks like it doesn't receive quite as much use. This area has probably toned down a lot since the closing of the resort. There are a lot of campsites strung out along the lake. There are some beautiful old growth trees, especially a grove of huge red cedars at the upper end of the lake. The bugs were out in force, since there is still a lot of moisture in the woods. Most of the day/weekend, cool breezes helped keep down the multitudes, but they got fierce when the wind dropped at dusk. The lake has a great view of Old Snowy from one direction and Mt. Rainier from the upper end.

There were several flowers in bloom, one especially catching my eye, a white anemone. Several lilies, including beargrass are coming into bloom, as well as Oregon grape, goat's beard and lupine. The forest is a beautiful mix of evergreens, spruce, hemlock, cedar, doug fir and silver fir. There were stands of vine maple and alder, also.

The lake is obviously glacier-fed. When we came upon it, the water was a beautiful milky green color. Apparently, Upper Lake Creek comes out of Packwood Glacier on Old Snowy. There's still snow on the ridges above the lake. The trails beyond the lake have not been logged out yet.

Motorcycles can almost get to the lake, but must stop short and park, just before the lake shore. There are still several buildings at the site of the old resort including the seasonal Ranger station. There was a ORV parked at the end of the pipeline road. Horses are also allowed. The Goat Rocks Wilderness starts at the bridge going over the outlet stream, and includes, as well, a chunk of the upper, newer trail. There were also several fishermen trying their luck. Another thing, the access road is entirely paved ending six miles from Packwood. If your kids are good hikers, it would be a good family hike, but it is still 4.6 miles to the lake, and a little beyond for the best campsites.

My wife and I and our
yellow lab Elsie started up on a Friday morning (July 3rd) from the trailhead parking lot and covered the four miles from the trailhead to the outlet side of the lake fairly quickly. The trail bobs up and down only a little bit, with the overall elevation gain being pretty close to a push. Wonderful stands of huge Cedar and Douglas Fir intermixed with plenty of lush undergrowth. It reminded us of the brimming greenness that we've seen in ONP. Salal and Wild Rose seemed to greet us on every other bend. We saw no other parties until reaching the lake. We were a little concerned having read the description in The Mountaineers book about this trail, but the Rangers in Packwood informed us that the boat concession at the NW end of the lake has been removed, and with it much of the crowds. We proceeded to the far end of the lake (SE), near Inlet Creek (I believe...) and found a very nice site off the water, but within earshot of the creek (where we saw trout spawning in the creekbed, right below the posted ""no fishing"" sign""). Overhead huge Western Red Cedars kept us sheltered from occassional mists, and left a wonderful fragrance in the air. As is typical of NW hiking, the peaks were socked in with clouds and fog, but we were able to spend our first afternoon listening to the ravens frolic and play; watching the wind play across the emerald lake; and to keep one eye on the numerous chipmunks investigate our packs for food (to no avail). The next day we did the short day hike up to Mosquito Lake (aptly named), about4 miles from our campsite and about 1800'-2000' elevation gain. Once again the clouds did not permit us views, but we enjoyed the forest walk nonetheless. After another evening watching the fog settle in on the lake and the ducks with their ducklings peruse the shoreline, we hiked out on Sunday morning. During our time on the lake we saw about 5 parties, most of which, unfortunately, were camped less than 100' from the edge of the lake. The vacant campsites were fairly clean, although the fire rings had some leftovers that we threw in our garbage bag on the way out. Overall, a nice hike and a beautiful, lush area...at least in early July. Would be a great hike for beginners and for youngish kids (not too young for shear distance purposes), which most of the other parties seemed to consist of. Campsites near inlet creek are lovely and allegedly should afford you views of Mt. Rainier...but not in our case. Reports that the snow line was only up to 4800' kept us from exploring up to Lost Lake or the Packwood Saddle. Not sure when these areas will be accessible.

Sunday April 19, 1998
Beautiful day, hiked an easy 4.5 miles on nice trail to Packwood Lake. Some snow about mile 3.5 to mile 4.0, minimal water on trail, feet stayed dry all day. All alone at the lake, nice spots to picnic/camp looks like it could be a busy place later in the season. Returned to trailhead by way of the pipeline trail, easy path/road out, also 4.5 miles. Good early trail. Saw many deer and elk along the road from packwood to the trailhead.