This trip included such trip report celebrities as MounTAIN woman, Trailcat, and an assemblage of other noted personalities. There was no snow at the trailhead at exit 47. In fact, we hiked up about a mile before stomping on snow. A beaten path worked well to about 3700' when we abandoned the switchbacks, donned snowshoes, and plowed our way in somewhat wet semi-consolidated snow to the ridge line. From there it was mostly a straightforward slog with grand views to the summit of Pratt Mtn. Up there we met other noted snowshoeing afficianadoes with whom I've spent many an entertaining winter's day. Glorious views of Rainier, the Snoqualmie Pass peaks, and peakaboo views of some North Cascade big fellers.

We,(Mom, 2 Teens, & Missy), hit the trail at 10:00a.m.. It was an easy 45 minutes to reach Talapus Lake. From there we passed Talapus and connected to the Pratt Lake trail heading up to Pratt Lake. The view of Olallie Lake on the Pratt Lake trail was clear but Mt. Rainier was barely visible, only the lower portion. The weather was slightly overcast with lots of sunbreaks, which made for a nice day of hiking. We passed the Pratt Lake turnoff and continued South on to Island Lake turnoff. The ridge climb prior to the Island Lake turnoff was fairly hard and Missy our canine needed a rest or two, she's out of shape. We dropped down to the Island Lake turnoff and headed for the lake on a narrow slightly overgrown trail. The lake was good with several campsites and several little islands out in the middle of the lake. We reached the lake in 2.5 hours, elevation gain was 1600ft and mileage 5.5 miles one way. Lunch was enjoyed by all at the lake and we headed down improving on our time by 1/2 an hour. What a great way to spend a nice day! Too bad the flowers were no longer in bloom. We saw no one on the trail above Talapus Lake. Trail conditions were great with only a few, very small mud holes. It had recently rained, so we didn't even have to deal with dust and the bugs were virtually non-existent. The road up to the trail head has washboards on most of the major turns with a few whoopdedoos that brought out a comment or two from the teenage department. All in all roads and trail were in great shape!

Started on the Talapus Lake Trail #1039 shortly after 9AM and before the hordes arrived. Beautiful cloudless day, and not too hot. The trail alternates between good condition and exposed roots. It was pretty dry and free of blowdown up to Talapus Lake. Talapus was perfectly still and reflected the surrounding scenery like a mirror. I took some photos and watched a dipper from the logs at the outlet. So far I had seen only two other parties. Continuing up to Olallie, I enjoyed the queen's cup and Canadian dogwood blooming along the trail. There were a couple of blowdowns and some minor muddy spots. The bridge across the Olallie outlet stream that connects to the Pratt Lake Trail was out, though the stream is easy to ford. I continued up to Olallie and found a rock to sit on. I stayed and watched the dragonflies and trout for a bit while enjoying a couple of bagels. A number of groups were camping at Olallie. Spring & Manning mention a route from the end of Olallie to the Pratt Lake Trail #1007. It took a few minutes to find it, as the lower section was overgrown with brush. This steep route put me on the Pratt Lake Trail not far from a great view overlooking Olallie with Mount Rainier framed in the distance. (It's even harder to find going back - someone had marked it with a temporary cairn or I would have missed it). I continued up to the Olallie-Pratt saddle. It seemed that all the bugs in the area had decided to come up here too. The trail was still and quiet until I stopped to adjust my pack at the saddle, when a party came through trying to find Pratt (the trail junction at the saddle is well signed, but they had already confused Olallie with Talapus and weren't sure where they were). I pointed them toward Pratt and started down the same steep trail. I took more photos at the picturesque talus slope halfway down. In the Pratt Lake basin, the trail crosses a wet mid-elevation meadow and there were several real muddy spots. Some grand old trees grow here. Pratt is practically surrounded with talus and brush, so it is not as easy to get to the water. I finished the rest of my bagels on a large boulder overlooking the lake while listening to a very loud pika somewhere close by. Beargrass is common between Olallie and Pratt, but it was apparently just past its prime. Blueberries were not quite ripe yet. After lunch, I began the trek back out - and started running into more and more people on their way in. By the time I got to the trailhead (around 3:15), cars were parked solid for 1/4 mile down the road.

I have hiked every step of this trip before but never in a single trip. Since I was planning on a short drive for a change and a nice long trip this route fit the bill. I started at the Talapus Lake trailhead, up Forest Service road 9030 from I-90. I was a little surprised to see that there were only about a dozen cars at 9:10 on a Saturday morning. The first 2.2 miles to Talapus Lake are very easy hiking. The trail is wide and gently graded. After all my sunny east side trips this year it was neat to hike in a foggy and misty forest. I passed a couple of groups coming in and out. Talapus Lake was covered with a very thick fog. I tried to take a picture and could only see a few feet out into the lake. Away from the lake the visibility was fine. I continued up to the intersection of the trails to Ollalie Lake and the Pratt trail. I went left towards Ollalie and after the first switchback I headed straight up the hill. This off trail scramble cuts off about one mile vs. going around Ollalie Lake on the Pratt trail. The scramble is a little brushy but not too difficult. In 1/3 of a mile, after gaining 500', I reached the Defiance trail. Here I went left contouring around Pratt Mountain. On this open slope the flowers were still very good. Paintbrush, Tiger Lily, and Beargrass were most prevalent. The valley of Talapus Lake, just below, was completely fogged in. After a few switchbacks the trail reached the high point and began to descend into the valley of Island and Rainbow Lakes. The valley is covered in Beargrass. I have seldom seen so much of it. Also, for the first and about the only time, the sun was shining. At Rainbow Lake I stopped for a snack. There were 2 hikers at the lake and one was swimming. It looked a little too cold for my taste. With my shortcut I had only hiked about 4 miles to reach the lake. Now it was time to head on to Mt. Defiance. I had only hiked the section from Rainbow Lake to Mason Lake one time before. It's nice to hike a trail that you don't remember. The same flowers I had already seen were thick along this stretch. Tiger Lilies were especially thick. I usually see a few of them at a time not miles of them. This section also has several big ups and downs. Be prepared to gain about 300' on the way out. There is a nameless lake along the trail which is very pretty. It sits right below Bandera Mountain. Once I reached the Mason Lake intersection I was back on a familiar trail. The trail follows the ridge top in thick forest before the climb up Mt. Defiance. The trail climbs up the north side of the mountain until it reaches the east ridge. It goes up the ridge and then turns west along the south side of the mountain. This section above I-90 is a meadowy hillside. The flowers can be spectacular at their peak. The downside is the noise from the freeway. Today I had great flowers and the clouds seemed to muffle the noise. That was fair compensation for the lack of views. The traverse goes all the way along the slope to the southwest corner of the mountain. At that point an obvious route heads straight up. Poles are helpful to negotiate this stretch. It is 400' up to the summit. The Tiger Lilies were even thicker on this stretch than on the previous trails. Another unexpected bonus were ripe blueberries. Berry bushes are thick from Rainbow Lake to Mason Lake but they are very late this year. Only small green berries are present. It will be at least late September before they ripen. On the open south face of Mt. Defiance there are berries which are ripe and ready for eating. I headed straight up but spent quite awhile grazing on the way down. Did I mention bugs? They are out and they are hungry. Whenever I slowed down they found me. On the summit of Defiance I put on all my rain gear. Only with almost no skin showing could I stay on the summit. I spent one hour but the views never opened up. On the way down I passed two parties. The weather seemed to keep the usual crowds away. Coming out I spent 1 1/2 hours brushing trail. Crews seldom get this far up the trail. I marked where my scramble reached the trail in case I wanted to scramble back down. When I reached that point I decided to follow trail all the way back. This added one mile but was much easier on my knees. All the way back down to Talapus Lake I saw only 2 more hikers. The lake had it's usual crowd of campers. The rest of the way down was quck and easy. The total on the day was 14 miles and 4200' gained. Pictures have been posted at http://www.kuresman.com. Look under ""Trips-2002"".

Barry, Tim, Mary and I headed east on I-90 for exit 45 and the trailhead for a scramble climb of Pratt Mtn. As we started up the trail it began to rain a little, but quit after a few minutes. Some people had backpacked into Talpus Lake and had their camps set up. On the section of trail ahead before getting to the junction with the Olallie Lake trail is where we encountered some snow. This is in a flat area that has many mud holes to get around. The melting snow water comes down the trail and turns it into a quagmire each year. This part of the trail gets alot of use with hikers just going to Olallie Lake, so you would have thought that the Forest Service would do some trail maintenance in these areas like having some new turnpikes, waterbars, puncheon and a couple of small bridges across creeks built. This part of the trail has not had any maintenance in years. After crossing Talapus Creek and going on the cutoff trail (another non-maintenance area, big mudhole)to the Pratt Lake trail, we headed for the ridge above Olallie Lake. Before getting to the view point along the trail where you can see down to the lake and out to Mt. Rainier, we went through another bad section in the trail. Water runs down the trail for about 100 yards which results in more mud mixed with slippery rocks and pieces of wood. Some drainage work would really help this part of the trail, then fix the muddy section. We took a break at the view point, then went up to the junction with the Pratt Lake and Island Lake trails. Following the ridge trail going westerly until about 1/4 from the next junction our group headed cross country to the big boulder field on the west side of Pratt Mtn. You go up the boulder field to the top of the ridge and then it is a short distance to the summit at 5,099'. By the time we got on top the weather had improved for some nice views of the area. A group of gnats thought they would join us for lunch. There was a little snow on the summit ridge, but the summit rocks are bare. This hike/scramble is 12 miles round trip with about 2,500' gain. Took our group 3 1/2 hours up and 3 hours down.