Destination: Snoqualmie Lake via Dorothy Lake, Deer and Bear Lakes. Started early Friday, May 27th, 2005. Hike out Sunday, May 29th, 2005. Distance / Time: 7 miles to Snoqualmie Lake. 4.5 hours to hike in, 3.5 hours to hike out. Trail Conditions: A few blow downs over the trail. Some water on the trail. No snow on trail. Dorothy Lake, Deer and Bear Lakes, and Snoqualmie Lake are all ice free. All campsites around the lakes are snow free. We had Snoqualmie Lake to ourselves most of Friday. The parade of newcomers started Friday afternoon and into Saturday. Hiked out Sunday in the cool mist. No bugs around until a hatch occurred on Saturday evening! Fishing Conditions: 12 inch rainbow trout are active in Snoqualmie Lake.

Taylor River Road out North Bend way to Snoqualmie, Deer, Bear and past Dorothy Lakes, down royal steps and out to Miller River Road, Money Creek Campground way. Beautiful day, good trail conditions most the way - just plain dirt on the ground and good companknee. A few patches of snow at the pass, 3,800 feet, not much tado there. Couple blow-down cross our path and oh the trillium. Lots of views and watery type stuff splashing and laying around. Don’t miss Otter Falls on the way in. It'll put akink in your neck. Bout 2,800 ft gain this away, 14.5 miles, moderate pace - in at 8am, out at 3:30. Not a lot of people, had it all mostly to ourselves. Good low-level outing to start-up the season. See ya out there.

We needed a short hike that the dog could join us on. So we picked a scramble up onto Chair Peak. There was eight cars at the Snow Lake Trailhead. We saw few people on the trail. The is a few soft patches of snow left on the trail. At 1.5 miles we continued straight on the Source Lake Overlook trail. Source Lake is completely thawed. Once we reached Source Lake we continued up onto Chair Peak staying left and asending a creek bed of a smaller waterfall set. From here there was continuous snow. We then worked our way back to the right climbing a small cliff with some trees to use as holds. Next we walked toward the Tumbtack and turned west up a chute to ascend the ridge overlooking Snow Lake. Snow Lake is still frozen but melting at the edges. We walked along the ridge toward the base of the summit. We sank in the snow only up to our knees. We turned back at 400m from Melakwa Pass because ultimate frisbee was calling. One person followed us up. I don't know how far he went. The way down a lot of fun in the snow. 1.75 hours up, 1 hour down.

Some of the first 3 miles along Snoqualmie Lake trail are like walking up a rocky stream without the water. Obviously, this part of the trail is a stream during the water season. Side trail to Marten lake is unmarked but can be found about 100 feet before the Marten creek bridge - the first bridge you get to. The ""trail"" to Marten lake is mostly steep, roots, muddy, brushy and difficult to follow in some places. If you look for the boot-polished roots you'll be on the ""trail"". Small snow patches encountered just before the lake. Lake Marten is beautiful, completely open, and very picturesque. Great lunch spot by outlet stream where you can watch waterfalls streaming down from snow fields on mountains on the far side of the lake. On the way back, I noticed that a giant bulldozer had been driven up the trail and was hiding in the woods about 1/4 mile up the trail from the parking area. Not sure what it's doing by the trail, wish it would work on the road to the trailhead.

Got to the trailhead around 10:30 am after negotiating a significant rockslide near the end of the Miller River Road. The Subaru Outback we were in did just fine, though momentum was the key. There were some workers surveying the area, so I think it will probably be cleared soon. Started up the trail on a lovely sunny day. Noticed only a few folks had been up that way before us probably due to the rockslide, and possibly only trail crew or rangers since the trail was very well marked for reparations. Our first obstacle came on the trail up to Dorothy Lake. A large blow down over some nice trail work, ack! It was passable, but will involve some major removal work. Snow was only patchy until we reached the saddle before the lake, and then we were surprised by how much there still was! Still, pretty easy going as it was relatively solid. The lake was still reasonably frozen, but melting out from the sunny south end. Nice stretch around the lake by the camps and other facilities. On we walked heading to Bear Lake. More snow! The major uphill section was a grunt as the trail was muddy and full of rocks and roots. Lots of tread work in the future of this stretch. We encountered another blow down as well, though all were easily navigated. Still more snow at the saddle to Bear Lake, and another frozen spectacle! Deer Lake was next, and then the drop into Snoqualmie Lake. Clouds came and went throughout the day, but for the most part it was sunny and warm. Did the 7 miles in a nice 2 hours 45 minutes. A beautiful partially frozen world lay before us as we lunched on a sunny rock at the south end. We figured the way out would be a bit quicker, but with all of the softening snow, and the downhill rocks and roots, we made close to the same time out. Long walk for my first day out this season; the ""dogs"" were ready to get out of those boots! Back over the rockslide without any trouble and we got on the road to Dairy Queen! Thanks again to those who maintain these paths of discovery! (Photos by Jim Cecil)