One word: WOW. 5 of us from the Mountaineers CHS-2 (Conditioning for Hiking Series 2-3 mph pace group) met at the Snoqualmie Lake trailhead at 6:30 a.m. Traffic at that time is very light, and birds are singing (19 species on the day). The worst part of the road is around Garfield Ledges - just take your time weaving through the potholes. THE ABSOLUTE WORST is immediately after the bridge so SLOW DOWN in order to keep your tires safe.

Portapotty is open and stocked. Northwest Forest Pass (NOT Discover) is required here.

Our fabulous day hike included visiting Big Creek Falls and spending an hour enjoying pristine (and chilly but refreshing) Snoqualmie Lake, returning to the cars around 3:45.

We set a blistering 3.1 mph pace from the trailhead, toning it down to 2.7 by mile 6 where we took an extended snack break to fuel for the gain. Once you leave "the flats" (900 feet gain over the first 6 miles, adding 200' if you pop up to Otter Falls) be prepared for 6-7 over-under blowdowns that have not been cleared. All are passable, they just slow down your pace. So do the talus fields, particularly the last one before Snoqualmie Lake.

Take a moment to check out the side trail to the drainage falls from the lake - utterly beautiful.

Five things worth noting:

1. On one of the talus slopes one of my participants felt his foot shift and suddenly there was a huge gaping hole underneath. I marked it with a pair of sticks so you pay attention to the tread. Simple enough fix but it's a big hole that needs to be filled.

2. Streams are all completely passable for a moderately experienced hiker. The one before Otter Falls continues to be the trickiest, just eyeball the route before you start. The highest stream crossing leading to Snoqualmie Lake with two logs across it is a bit slick, but poles or hand holds on the low log can help with footing. I used one pole on the descent from the lake but otherwise everything is passable.

3. Once you reach the upper outflow, as a previous trip report pointed out, look uphill for obvious cairns showing you the trail just beside the runout. It looks like the trail cuts directly across but I don't know what is on the other side, probably switchbacks or other indicators how to regain - we stuck with the cairns.

4. Make sure you don't have any loose laces or gaiter strings. The roots and branches have arms!! Fortunately any slip-up over most of the trail ends in a soft landing on cushy needles and dirt - no injuries except to egos. There are some muddy and overgrown areas but it kept foot traffic down to only the determined.

5. Somewhere I got 15 miles and 1900' as our totals, but we logged closer to 16.5 and 2200' on AllTrails, go figure. It's a long day hike so be prepared!

Once we got to the lake (average pace for the first 8 miles was 2.2 mph) we were greeted by a pair of American dippers and a red-breasted sapsucker, a sooty grouse I heard once I stepped away from the sound of the running water, and a beautiful, surprisingly large lake. I'd done Otter/Big Creek before but I've never been to Snoqualmie Lake so I gave us an hour to soak our feet, have a snack, filter water and enjoy our hard-won prize.

On my 10-minute scouting trip to check out lake access for future reference, I encountered a trail runner and an overnight backpacker - fellow WTA poster and just-about-to-retire Terry (Hey, we hope your Deer Lake day trip and second overnight turned out well! Drop me a note and we can chat Mountaineers!) but for the most part we only ran into a pair of trail runners and people visiting Otter Falls/Big Creek Falls. 

CAMPSITES: As soon as you top out and spot the lake, look left for your first camp sites. If you continue another 2 minutes you'll find a few boot paths that will take you down to a "beach" of rocks near the egress where you can wade and sit for a snack. Not sure what all the yellow was collected in pockets - pollen?

Continue on another few minutes and you'll find your first beachside campsite with a wonderful wade-in spot (where I shot the first of four shared photos). I understand there are more as you continue around the lake toward Deer and beyond, so if the first few are full just keep on walking.

DESCENT: This trail is lovely even in mid-day. I burn easily but chose this for a June/full sun day because I knew most of the trip we'd have forest canopy. Great decision. The boulder fields weren't too hot yet and the cool in the woods with a light breeze felt delightful.

We kept a visit to Otter Falls as optional and decided to save it for another day -- I wanted to scout out the new trail (WOW, thanks whoever hoofed all that way in and did the hard work!) that has been created since I last visited in January but our feet were all feeling it by that point. Our average pace on the day was 2.4 mph. Over that kind of mileage, this early in the season, I was highly impressed with our group's performance.

All in all a totally delightful day with wonderful go-getters all dealing with their own fears and foibles, but the conversation, energy, and camaraderie were magnificent to match the day. "Great confidence booster" one participant shared. So fun I've signed up to lead Nordrum Lake later this summer to see what the "right fork" lake looks like. Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie is a treasure begging to be explored.

This is a great cool hike for a warm day - it mostly stays in the shade and near water. The multiple waterfalls provide some spray to cool off, and Otter Falls, has what amounts to a nice wading pool of very cold water. The only significant sun exposure is the last half of the Snoqualmie Lake trail.

The Taylor River portion of the trail is mostly flat and easy. That said, there are a couple of creek crossings that require rock hopping, and the Otter Creek crossing could be a challenge. One group I ran into apparently turned back there. 

It looks like the spur trail to Otter Falls is brand new. Definitely different from the last time I was up here. There were five people at the falls on a Wednesday.

The Snoqualmie Lake portion was also fairly easy, but again complicated by water crossings. Most of these are easy, with the exception of the last, right near the lake. The trail goes to your left up the hill and the creek currently runs over it. There's a false trail straight ahead. If you have GPS, it's more clear, but if not, look for cairns running uphill. There's also a somewhat messy blowdown between there and the lake, but not hard to cross.

Mileage up to the lake looks intimidating, but the mostly easy grade makes this a doable day hike. This would be an amazing overnight destination though since there are a couple of other nearby lakes to explore. The few folks I ran into were mostly trail runners. One woman lugged a packraft all the way up and was out in the middle of the lake. I encountered only 4 people on the Snoqualmie Lake trail.

Started from the trailhead on the Middle Fork side. Snow free until Deer Lake, then patches of snow but didn’t feel like microspikes were needed. Be mindful of higher water levels with the snowmelt. Made it halfway around Deer Lake before hitting my turnaround time and a flooded trail.

Otter Falls was pretty great, well worth the 0.5mi or so detour from the main trail. The signed trail wasn’t marked in Gaia, so watch for the sign. Looks like a fresh trail, or at least recently maintained.

The creek crossings until the wilderness boundary weren’t too bad, no need to get wet. Trail is nice and level.

Starting about 0.75mi from Snoqualmie Lake there were 3 tricky creek crossings with swift water. I didn’t get wet but spent a fair bit of time picking a route I could leap across with my long legs. The first 2 would be a little far for someone shorter to stay dry, at least while the creeks are running high. I could see a simpler route, a couple inches underwater… The third crossing had a lot of options with rocks spread out. One route was marked with cairns, with the water level up I preferred a different route. The cairns were very helpful finding the trail on the other side after going up/downstream looking for a better crossing.

There were a couple large downed trees but all of them had clear routes around them.

And the lake… was beautiful! A couple backpackers at campsites but otherwise serene with calm blue waters. 18.5mi RT, 2700ft elevation gain including the bit out to Deer Lake and detour to Otter Falls.

Sometimes, I’m really thankful not to have made it to my destination!

I started at the paved Middle Fork Trailhead due to my low clearance car (hence “road suitable for all vehicles”). At 7 AM, there were about fifteen cars in that half of that huge lot; barely a quarter full, or less. I walked to the Snoqualmie Lake trailhead, where there were seven cars. The Snoqualmie Lake bathroom was clean and stocked.

In addition to the replenished toilet paper, work had been done on the trail since my visit this past Monday; thank you to the crews! Several small blowdowns were gone, and it appears a brand-new trail is being made up to Otter Falls.

Shortly after the Snoqualmie Lake trail split from the Nordrum Lake one, the trail got much steeper, rougher, and wetter. There were logs to climb over or under more regularly, but it was always easy to see the trail on the other side. There was a stretch up a rocky riverbed where I would likely have gotten lost if not for the cairns, but they were (at least at the time) plentiful. Going towards the lake, climb upwards along the stream for a short bit, then look to the right to find the trail.

My initial goal had been to reach Deer Lake and Bear Lake, but reports from campers coming down were that there was snow past Snoqualmie Lake. The campers had made it to Deer Lake in some snow. They had heard that some sturdier folks were making it to Bear Lake, but postholing.

There were patches of snow visible off to the side of the trail shortly before the Snoqualmie Lake, but only snow I had to actually step on was just a few feet before the campsite on the banks of Snoqualmie Lake. I’m not a big fan of hiking on snow – the sight of dirt is such lovely reassurance that I am, in fact, on the trail – and by the time I got to Snoqualmie Lake the temperature was dropping, the clouds were darkening, and the legs were tiring. I decided to call it a day and head back.

Overall, I did a little over 19 miles in about 8 hours. I’m looking forward to coming back to visit the various other lakes along this trail on future visits. It’s a great spot for starting to get back in summer shape – relatively long mileage without a huge amount of elevation gain.

And I’m so glad I called it a day when I did! There was a medium-light rain for the last two hours or so of my return trip, but by the time I got back to the highway, a huge, dark (and unforecasted) storm broke loose. I hope everyone who was going up the trail as I was coming down is all right!

Road to trail: After the paved portion of the middle fork trail, the road is rough with large potholes. Just about any car should be able to make it if going slow though. 

Trailhead: Got here at 4:30 pm on a weekend day for an overnight hike to Snoqualmie Lake. The trail was mostly full with a handful of spots open. There were cars parked down the road too, meaning earlier in the day it was probably overflowing. The toilet was open and fully stocked. 

Trail: This trail is really two hikes in one. The first part is an easy flat river trail that goes on for the first 5-6 miles (one way) through a second growth forest with great side trips and plenty of water falls. The second part is a 2-3 mile hike in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness with some elevation gain through a beautiful old growth forest past a couple raging waterfalls to a huge alpine lake. The Taylor River trail was smooth and easy. Not much elevation gain. All the downed trees have been cleared. I even saw someone biking the trail. The creek crossings were relatively low and easy to navigate, but the waterfalls were still great. At the trail junction between Nordrum Lake and Snoqualmie Lake my watch read 5.7 miles. After that the trail started to climb and was notably more rough. Definitely more muddy, and 5-6 downed trees across the trail, including a couple that were pretty tricky to get around/over. That said I was able to do it without much trouble. There is an amazing waterfall on the Taylor river about half way up. A little less than 2 miles from the junction is a tricky creek crossing, not because the water is high but because it is a little unclear which way to go. There are some cairns to help guide the way across this wide boulder field, but as long as you use your maps you should be able to find the way. Best to stay towards the left/higher side and make your way up, but there is more water that way too, including a place where the creek seemed to be going down the trail directly. The waterfall at the lake outlet is right after this and really nice. Once at the lake there started to be a little late spring soft snow, but nothing too hard to cross. There was no one camping in the first site to the left of the trail I saw but it wasn't very nice. The second site on a ledge up above the lake to the left of the trail had a couple of tents in it. The third site I came to on the right side of the trail right on the lake shore had someone in it. The 4th site which was to the left had no one in it. You had to cross a little snow to get there but the site itself was snow free and nice. I set up here, got my tent ready and made dinner. I saw probably 20-25 people on the Taylor River trail on the way up but not one after the junction. There was someone at the lake with a blow up kayak enjoying sunset. It took me about 4 hours to get to the lake so I made it there just before sunset. On the way out I went the same way that I came. I got an early start in the morning and didn't see anyone until I was about 3 miles from the trailhead. After that I probably saw another 20 or so people. Got back to the trailhead at 9 am and it was already filling up and was mostly full. 

Wildflowers: There were a bunch of forest flowers blooming. Saw a bunch of trillium, some salmon berry flowers, skunk cabbage, and some other stuff I didn't recognize. 

Wildlife: Some squirrels, a turtle at the lake, and not really anything else. 

Overall, a quick overnight backpacking trip that was about 16.5 miles total with about 2300 ft elevation gain. Really beautiful place. I will definitely come back when I have more time.