I backpacked to Jade Lake for two nights last weekend with a day hike to Dip Top Gap on the middle day.
Drive to trailhead
The 12 mile drive to Tucquala Meadows trailhead is straightforward but it's rough. I would recommend a high clearance vehicle but I saw many sedans making it just fine. There are many trails starting at the end of the road so make sure to take the one which is at the farthest end of the road.
Trailhead to Marmot Lake
The first 3 miles are on a flat trail on the valley floor, going past meadows, forest areas as well as going past Hyas Lake. Hyas is a beautiful lake with mountain backdrop and worth a stop.
Once the climb begins its steep enough to make you sweat and I had to take off all my warm layers. It climbs steadily to Deception Pass. Once you reach deception Pass you start to climb down about 700 ft before climbing back 1000 ft again. You then reach Marmot lake and it's a pretty lake. On the day I hiked it was cloudy and many campers told me they were soaked the day before.
Marmot to Jade
After Marmot it's pretty hard to hike up to Jade in a heavy backpack. The reason is that the trail gets pretty rough with fallen trees and not to mention the climb to Jade is essentially a trailless climb on a steep rock gully. The cairns help guide the route though and it's hard to get lost. It's deterrent enough that most people camp at Marmot instead of Jade. I would say camping at Jade is worth it if you're not going on a sunny weekend.
Jade to Dip Top gap
Jade lake is beautiful and it's color is something you dont see often in this region. The sites there are limited, but I was able to snag a good one given the cloudy weather. It rained overnight and I was quite unsure whether to stay another night or just go back home. Luckily I met a group of hikers in the morning and we encouraged each other to go up the foggy Dip Top glacier. Going up Dip Top requires traction device (microspikes) and poles as almost half of the 1300 ft climb is over ice and snow. There is no trail obviously but it's pretty easy to find your way up.
Once we got to the top three beautiful view of Pea Soup Lake presented itself to us. Its backdrop is Mt Daniel which was partially cloud covered on the day I went. I stayed there for a couple hours before heading back.
Once I got back to Jade the sky started to clear up and I wished I had stayed at Dip Top Gap longer. The sunny weather made the colors of Jade Lake appear even more outworldly.
On day 3 I headed back early morning and got back to trailhead around 3 pm with extremely tired legs and feet.
Looking back it was a trip totally worth it. I would go again.
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