Sometimes, I’m really thankful not to have made it to my destination!
I started at the paved Middle Fork Trailhead due to my low clearance car (hence “road suitable for all vehicles”). At 7 AM, there were about fifteen cars in that half of that huge lot; barely a quarter full, or less. I walked to the Snoqualmie Lake trailhead, where there were seven cars. The Snoqualmie Lake bathroom was clean and stocked.
In addition to the replenished toilet paper, work had been done on the trail since my visit this past Monday; thank you to the crews! Several small blowdowns were gone, and it appears a brand-new trail is being made up to Otter Falls.
Shortly after the Snoqualmie Lake trail split from the Nordrum Lake one, the trail got much steeper, rougher, and wetter. There were logs to climb over or under more regularly, but it was always easy to see the trail on the other side. There was a stretch up a rocky riverbed where I would likely have gotten lost if not for the cairns, but they were (at least at the time) plentiful. Going towards the lake, climb upwards along the stream for a short bit, then look to the right to find the trail.
My initial goal had been to reach Deer Lake and Bear Lake, but reports from campers coming down were that there was snow past Snoqualmie Lake. The campers had made it to Deer Lake in some snow. They had heard that some sturdier folks were making it to Bear Lake, but postholing.
There were patches of snow visible off to the side of the trail shortly before the Snoqualmie Lake, but only snow I had to actually step on was just a few feet before the campsite on the banks of Snoqualmie Lake. I’m not a big fan of hiking on snow – the sight of dirt is such lovely reassurance that I am, in fact, on the trail – and by the time I got to Snoqualmie Lake the temperature was dropping, the clouds were darkening, and the legs were tiring. I decided to call it a day and head back.
Overall, I did a little over 19 miles in about 8 hours. I’m looking forward to coming back to visit the various other lakes along this trail on future visits. It’s a great spot for starting to get back in summer shape – relatively long mileage without a huge amount of elevation gain.
And I’m so glad I called it a day when I did! There was a medium-light rain for the last two hours or so of my return trip, but by the time I got back to the highway, a huge, dark (and unforecasted) storm broke loose. I hope everyone who was going up the trail as I was coming down is all right!
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