Got started from the Snow Lakes trailhead at 6:30 am. Not too many folks starting this early as I only passed less than 10 hikers going up to Snow Lake. On the way down was another story, as when I got back to the car at 11:40 am, I had run into 390 hikers.
On the way up to Avalanche Mountain I took the trail up to the toilet and started my adventure then. There was a trail past the toilet but then it faded away. I ended up have to brush bash thru the huckleberry bushes. On the way back I took a trail that came out just after crossing the creek that flows into Snow Lake. This is the better route. There are some pretty nice ponds and tarns that you need to skirt. After the largest one there is no trail. It is choose your own adventure to get up to the ridge.
I had originally planned to go up to the saddle before taking a left and going up the ridge to the summit, but the forest looked better than the talus field. It worked out great. It is super steep, and there are some huckleberry bushes to go thru, but it was easier than going up to Preacher Mt.
I got up to the ridge at around 5000 ft. There is a faint trail that goes up to the summit. It follows the narrow spine crisscrossing a few times. The summit block is a fun scramble. There is some exposure, but most of it is protected. I thought it was a lot easier than Hibox.
Views from the top are excellent. You are looking down at Snow Lake and also you are looking straight down on the Middle Forks Snoqualmie River. The view of Snoqualmie Mt is really cool from this angle.
If you are going to give this a try, make sure you have a map and a GPS. It is so important as there is no trail for quite a bit of this hike, and alot of the terrain looks the same. It would be easy to get off track.
Great adventure this morning. The ponds / tarns were a unexpected treat, as they were beautiful. Bugs were not that bad. The worst of it was just as I got out of the car this morning, and was attacked by the mosquitos before I could get the repellent on. 9.3 miles RT with 3087 ft gain
Comments
ALW Hiker on Avalanche Mountain
Awesome photos. I'm guessing the first one is from one of the tarns - that's a big tarn! I have seen official lakes much smaller. :)
Posted by:
ALW Hiker on Jul 18, 2021 07:28 PM
kidz won't hike on Avalanche Mountain
Thanks. Yes the first pic is from the largest one. It is more like a lake or a pond than a tarn. There are about 3-4 more smaller tarns back there. Quite pretty actually!!
Posted by:
kidz won't hike on Jul 18, 2021 07:45 PM
ngie on Avalanche Mountain
That’s a cute summit greeter :). Well done!
Posted by:
ngie on Jul 18, 2021 11:08 PM
kidz won't hike on Avalanche Mountain
I think it was attracted to the orange on the pack. The pic is not a zoom. I was able to put the phone right up on it!
Posted by:
kidz won't hike on Jul 19, 2021 09:17 AM