A few weeks ago, I went up to Snow Lake to just to check out late-spring conditions and putz around on the snow a bit. Conditions were manageable, and I found myself wanting to go up to Gem, but with neither the appropriate amount of water nor sun protection to warrant the extended trip. I decided to go for it this Sunday, opting to possibly add Wright Mountain for a little extra credit, conditions permitting.
The Alpental parking lot was pretty full at 7:45am on Sunday, but the lot is huge and was still wide open for accommodating more. As most know, that is the name of the game with this lot and the Snow Lake trail. Starting at 8am, I cranked out the Snow Lake trail portion as quick as I could, hitting the saddle at 9:05am. I saw probably around 10 folks on the trail on my way up, and passed a few more on the trail down to the lake basin. (Did not stop and dally at either the saddle overlook or the lunch lake viewpoint down below -- I had stuff to do, okay?!) I kept it moving best I could, crossing the log bridge at 9:45am.
Either the trail up to Gem Lake has gotten easier, or I've just been getting a little stronger and more conditioned with my hiking. (I'll take either option, with a preference for the latter. That is the last of the humble-bragging for this TR.) Ease of trail aside, there was still plenty of stopping on the trail up to Gem, to catch my breath and just admire the increasingly pretty views of Snow Lake below.
Somewhere between 4200 and 4600 feet, you start hitting extended patches of snow on the trail. I brought poles and started using them somewhere around here. Forgot spikes but definitely didn't need them anyway -- trail runners seemed to work just fine. A lot of these snow patches covering the trail are over small streams and are continuing to rapidly melt; I was amazed that I didn't punch through at all.
Arrived at Gem Lake proper at about 10:50, and kept moving counter-clockwise along the trail. Bugs were v. bad from here on out. Saw and heard some folks hootin' and hollerin' as they braved a late-morning Gem Lake cold plunge. Took a right at the turn-off that takes you up the sometimes-stream/sometimes-bootpath up to Wright. Enough of a bootpath to sort of follow, but when compounding the snow cover with my own unfamiliarity with the scramble up, I relied pretty heavily on the GPX, which helped tremendously, but naturally slowed the process. The higher you scramble, the more prominent Glacier Peak becomes, which is about 45 miles away to the northeast.
I hit a point where I suspect a big snowfield was covering the "correct" (or whatever word you want to use) bootpath up, so I kick-stepped up some snow, left of a glissade path that someone else had carved out. It was a little steep, but I made sure to quickly and sure-footedly maneuver from the steep snow, onto the talus boulders, once I reached the top of that part. From here, it's a boulder-scramble and balancing act to the top; I wouldn't recommend this part to individuals with balance issues. Some of the boulders are, of course, a little wobbly, so make sure your boulder-of-choice for the next step is stable before completely relying on it.
Made the summit at 11:45, where I enjoyed lunch along with panoramic views. I really liked this spot, so I lingered for a while (in hindsight, timestamps reflect I stayed up here for an entire FIFTY MINUTES. Lmao, whatever, happy Sunday we're chillin today). I had the summit to myself for probably about 20-30min before a few other folks arrived.
I didn't really dally on my way back down, descending from both Wright and then Gem Lake in about an hour total. There was some stopping along the way to let the uphillers pass.
Back down at Snow Lake proper, it was 2pm and plenty of folks had trickled in and along the lakeshore in order to post up for an afternoon swim spot. After about the lakeside lunch spot/viewpoint, Snow Lake became a bit of a zoo again. I moved slower from here on out, ambling behind larger groups, or waiting for folks to pass by. All good, though, and to be expected here.
It was pretty cool in the morning, but became pretty hot n' toasty from about noon onward. I carried 4L of water with me; I ran out of agua about a mile from the parking lot during the return. Sunscreen was a must. I had SPF 30 and still managed a slight sunburn. Stay safe and have fun out there!
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