The gravel road in front of Garfield Ledges is quite deeply rutted, just before the bridge and beyond and to the parking lot for Otter/Big Creek, where we were first visitors to the trailhead for the day. Take your time so you don't wreck your car. Restroom is open and stocked. NW Forest Pass (NOT Discovery Pass) is needed here.
7 of us from the Mountaineers CHS-1 (Conditioning for Hiking Series 1.5-2 mph) cohort did a graduation hike Tuesday to Otter Falls/Lipsy Lake, Big Creek Falls, and Snoqualmie Lake from the Middle Fork side. We left the parking lot at 7 a.m. under cloudy cool temperatures with a threat of rain, but by 5 when we returned to the cars, the sun was out making for some neat late-afternoon photos.
AllTrails had us at 17 miles/2400' gain with average moving pace 2.1 mph (7:45 moving time). We enjoyed 20 minutes at Lipsy/Otter Falls to refuel for the next four miles, 45 minutes at Snoqualmie Lake as our halfway point, and took a number of photo opps including at the "unnamed falls" both ways up the steeper gain. We only saw one other person all day.
The first (and last) 6 miles of the trail is in fabulous shape, no blow downs, with mushrooms starting to poke out. The stream crossings are almost completely dry, but there is still running water at the first falls, Big Creek Falls, and Snoqualmie Falls. Otter Falls is dry. And Snoqualmie Lake, which was overflowing on June 3 when I last did this hike, is probably a good 2 feet lower than it was, with no obvious overflow through the rocks as you come into the basin near the first camp site.
Once you pass the Nordrum/Snoqualmie Lake sign, the route really climbs in two miles, with sometimes slick footing where runoff has added mud to rocks and roots. I counted at least 6 blow-downs that haven't been cleared; they are accessible, just look for the obvious tracks either uphill or down to get around them.
After you've completed most of the gain, there is a high stream crossing that caused us to pause. Some logs (if they're dry) are the obvious route (the path I chose) with poles on either side for stability, but coming down the same route, the log moved so everyone chose to carefully cross the wet rock. In either case, poles can be useful.
At the rocky slope just before you reach the basin, it becomes trickier to navigate. Keep eyes left and there's a little stream bed you can go up, or slightly beyond on drier rocks, some cairns mark the way. We chose to diagonal upward to regain the route rather than going straight across and then up. The sinkhole we found in June has been plugged with rocks so no ankle issues there, but on one slick cedar blow-down there is a jagged branch sticking out that could stab you in the shins if you're not paying attention. We slowed way down on this section, particularly coming down.
I expected to see at least one backpacker but we had the entire region to ourselves. There is a nice pit toilet just past the lakeside camp area, marked with pink ribbons. In muddy spots we saw tracks we interpreted as being left by dogs.
Many of the berries are overly ripe to the point of being spit-worthy, but we found some in the basin still worth picking. We had 12 bird species including several Pacific wrens, Swainson's thrushes, and woodpeckers, but with fall migration in full swing it's pretty quiet. No mammals beyond squirrels and I heard one pica call.
We had one swimmer and one wader at the northernmost lakeside camping spot which has a little area of sand but is mostly pretty muddy and easy to sink into. I want to go back and do the Dorothy/Bear/Deer lakes visit in the future.
The highlights of the day included 1) seeing the fog dancing across the lake surface as the sun tried to figure out when to make an appearance, and 2) great photo opportunities with my group of 7. Best of all was the smiles on their faces when I handed out graduation medallions for a summer well spent. 11 hikes including a graduation 17+ miler? Priceless.
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