Snow Lake, Gem Lake, Chair Peak Lake, Melakwa - Pratt Lake Traverse & Pratt Lake Basin — Friday, Sep. 4, 2020

Today I entered the Alpine Lake Wilderness at Snow Lake trailhead and came out at the Granite Man / Pratt Lake trailhead, where I had stashed my e-bike, and then biked / coasted uphill back to Snow Lake trailhead. I had one full day to hike this summer and wanted to make it counted, so I combined two of my favorite hikes from last summer: the Chair Peak circumnavigation and the Granite Peak circumnavigation. For a while I had considered stretching it out even further and hitting Island Lake and Mason lake and coming out at the trailhead at the Tinkham Road exit on I-90, but I had to be home by 5 and that would have doubled the miles on the bike. 

Note: All developed trails were in good condition, including the Melakwa-Pratt traverse, which is less brushy than this time last year. The section between Gem Lake and Melakwa Lake is cross-country (more on that below). Berries were plentiful between Snow Lake and Pratt Lake. Bugs weren't that bad. Wildfire smoke reduced views but visibility for route finding wasn't impacted. 

Last year I did part of this hike in a clockwise direction, starting at Denny Creek and coming out at Snow Lake. That was a better hike in some ways: it was pretty exhilarating to climb the pass above Melakwa Lake and then have the alpine backcountry suddenly open up; also it's the easier way if bike shuttling, as you get to bike down to your car rather than up. But I prefer counterclockwise (enter at Snow Lake and come out at Denny Creek or Granite Mtn or...), since this way you can hike in the shade most of the way (especially the hike up to Snow Lake and you have a nice descent to the Granite Mtn. trailhead that you can jog if you are so inclined). Anyway, tradeoffs.

Leaving Snow Lake at 7am, I encountered only a few hikers (including one with a snowboard!?) between Snow Lake and Gem Lake. The parking lot and trail were trash-free, so that seems to have changed since reports from last week. I'll skip to the crux of the hike: from Gem Lake to Chair Peak Lake. I've done this once in the opposite direction, but it wasn't any easier this time. After crossing over the Gem Lake outlet, I noticed two trails, one ascending the ridge and one descending. I started off descending but turned around since I needed to gain elevation and this one was shedding elevation quickly. I just checked on the NWHikers forum and someone claims to have taken that trail, so who knows. Anyway, the most obvious trail heads up the ridgeline that leads up to Mt. Roosevelt and then mostly levels out at around the 5k contour. It's pretty easy to stay on that trail as until a point where the trail really starts gaining elevation, perhaps by climber's going up Mt. Roosevelt. I followed that trail up, thought better of it, but instead of backtracking just starting downclimbing / downsliding while moving laterally, until I hit one of the cliffs below Mt. Roosevelt and then had to downclimb some chossy rock with maybe a few class 3 moves, and that isn't my idea of fun, plus the sun was already beating down on the rock. If you're paying attention as you hike on the ridge, you'll see those cliffs from a distance and you'll figure out how to make your way to the talus below them in time. Once on the talus it was pretty straightforward up to Chair Peak Lake - I aimed from the massive granite. You can read a discussion about that section here: http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8017389

Chair Peak Lake was stunning and the hike up to Melakwa Pass was almost entirely snow free.Hiking down from that pass to Melakwa Lake was not as nearly fun as I remember it being in the opposite direction, but a dip in Upper Melakwa was so refreshing that I immediately forgot about all of the fraught steps it took to get there. If I had a car or bike at Denny Creek trailhead I might have just called it a day, but I'm glad I didn't. After all of the tense and strenuous climbing, sidehilling, and downclimbing, the rest of the hike through the lake basins was beautiful and the huckleberries, thimbleberries, and even salmonberries were plentiful.  My bike was where I left it and all intact.

Just shy of 8 hours total time (I was a bit pressed for time so only stopped for 30 minutes) and according to my Gaia app 3.6k elevation and 17.2 miles. This is a good hike to do with a buddy - for the car drop off but also to have support in the backcountry.