Today was the perfect weather day to hike Naches Peak Loop and Dewey Lakes.  We pulled into the Tipsoo lake lot just before 9:45 and it was 2/3 full.  The temperature was 62 degrees with clear blue skies. The NPS toilet facilities were open and stocked with supplies and smelly.  We hit the trail just before 10:00 and headed up to the PCT on the north side of Lake Tipsoo.  All the meadows and stream beds were teaming with beautiful wildflowers. The entire trail was dry and dusty.   We saw lupine, paintbrush,  fleabane daises, asters, arnica, cusick speedwell, lousewort, heather, partridge foot, spyrea,  monkey flower, larkspur, saxifrage, and more.  Several PCT thru hikers were on PCT from the Chinook Pass Summit down to Dewey Lake.  All seemed very friendly and eager to stop and chat for a few moments.  We were surprised that the trail traffic was relatively light considering the beautiful sunny day and wildflower peak bloom.

    This hike is a yearly pilgrimage for our hiking group and we had a strong 18 hikers celebrating 2 birthdays today.  Another trail hiker, Matt was also celebrating his birthday so we gave him a birthday necklace and belted out Happy Birthday to You.  He was amazed and said that our senior hiking group just made his day out in the wilderness.

   We arrived at the south end of Dewey Lake just afternoon and found a great beach with both sun and shade access.  Most in our group immediately took off our boots and socks and went wading.  Delightful!  The bugs mentioned in previous trip reports were out but not that bothersome. Most in our group had long sleeves and pants and Off spray at the ready, along with bug head nets.  After our birthday festivities we packed up and were back on the trail at 1:06.  To make a complete circuit of Dewey Lake we kept going counterclockwise along the east side of the lake.  Route finding was a challenge at times with downed trees and brush to work around.  It started to heat up and was in the low 70’s on the slog back up to Naches Peak Loop Trail.  We only passed 5 other hiking groups as we continued the loop back to Lake Tipsoo and our cars.  The lot had thinned out when we drove out just after 4:00PM.  Another fantastic day to be out in nature with friends.  Driving back to Enumclaw on Hwy 410 we encountered more newly laid chip seal, following a pilot car and a slow slog through the construction zone with dust and rocks flying.  Two vehicles in our group experienced windshields dings from the rocks.

Did the Dewey Lake hike as a side trip off the Naches Peak Loop. Trail is in good condition, the lake is beautiful and calm. Lots of bugs, definitely bring your repellent of choice. While dogs are permitted on this trail, 100% of the dogs we saw were off leash, which is not permitted.

We attempted to enter the park at the Sunrise entrance around 9am on Saturday morning. Mistake! The entrance station was only letting one car in at a time as one car left and the expected wait time was 1-2 hours. After consulting with a ranger on the roadway, we decided to nix our planned day hike to summerland and see what else was around there. Luckily my rainier area map reminded me that chinook pass was just up the road and we could do a sweet hike there. 
We easily found parking along the roadway and started counter-clockwise on the Naches Loop trail. Yes, the views of rainier are behind you, so I could see why clockwise would be preferable. But if you’re there for the wildflowers, either way will be awesome! And the flowers are definitely worth the trip. Plenty of flowers out and they seemed to be at their prime. Of the flowers I know, I saw lupine, paintbrush, avalanche lilies, trout lilies, and many more that I don’t know! The meadows are really stunning.

We turned right onto the PCT at the junction to head down to Dewey lake, which you get some nice views of from above! It’s probably less than a mile to get down there, but you’ll do a few switchbacks. The lake was also surrounded by flowers and the temp was cold, but perfect for a swim on a hot day. Plenty of campsites available!

The mosquitoes were terrible on both the loop and Dewey lake, so we didn’t linger too long. We had a quick picnic at the saddle (a little breeze kept the bugs from being untenable) and completed the loop. 
The parking lot at chinook pass was very busy. Enough people were coming and going that parking probably wouldn’t be too much of a problem. But you won’t get solitude here.

This is a lovely alternative if the park entrance isn’t an option! And of course a nice, easy option if you want a good bang for your buck. A young person even remarked ‘I got service!’ as they rounded the loop, so you won’t even have to leave social media behind for too long :)

Lovely evening trip on a Friday afternoon at 4pm. The parking lots on both sides of Chinook Pass were full but there was parking available along the road on both sides. We snagged the only open spot on the east side of the pass where there was trail magic happening. Fun to see so many PCT hikers gathered in one area. 

We hiked the Naches Peak Loop clockwise which is the best way in my opinion. Lots of wildflowers out but very few lupine as in previous years. There is no snow left on the trail and the seasonal waterfall on the first part of the loop was non-existent. We took a left at the junction with the PCT and hiked down to the far side of Dewey Lake for a nice dinner location looking back where we'd hiked from. The bugs were annoying at the lake but not nearly as bad as I expected them to be. We had some occasional wind and I think that helped blow them away.

After dinner we hiked back up and finished our clockwise loop. We hiked over a new bridge that was being installed by WTA. At the time we hiked this, there was no step up or down from the bridge but I imagine over the weekend that may change. The sun was setting which made for some nice Rainier views and cotton candy skies as we finished. No one in our group had done this hike at sunset before and it was a real unique experience seeing pretty much all PCT hikers instead of the hoards of people that tend to crowd the trail during the summer days. When we returned around 8pm there were a few open parking spots in the lot on the east side of the pass and a pretty much open parking lot on the west side at the Tipsoo lot. Highly recommend hiking this in the evening during the week on a nice day to avoid the daytime weekend crowds.  

We went in Friday evening around 6 and didn't really see anyone on the trail. Got to the lake around 8-ish and we were able to secure a campsite, not one of the nice ones right on the lake, though. Mosquitos were awful, you could see swarms of them. I must have hundreds of bites. 

When we left on Saturday around 11-ish it was absolute chaos, soo many people, tons of kids running around and pushing you around.

It's not a very hard hike and the trail is in good condition. Would make a good first backpack, maybe on a weekday though.