Arrived at the Snow Lake trailhead a little bit after 8am. I was pleasantly surprised that there were only 3 or 4 other cars in the lot! I had noticed that the forecast called for clear skies for a few hours this morning so I decided to try to squeeze in this hike before the weather changed. As it turned out, the sunshine held out much longer than I expected, although the wildfire smoke did creep back in as I finished my hike. I stopped for a quick breakfast snack at the viewpoint at the top of the ridge before working my way along the lake, making it as far as the outlet stream before turning back. I found a few tasty blueberries along the trail just beyond the Rock Creek trail junction as well as some small patches of pink mountain heather still in bloom.
On my return journey, I decided to swing by the Source Lake overlook by following the bootpath along the ridge, and then working my way downhill to connect back to the official Source Lake trail. The bootpath is easy to follow most of the time, but splits in a couple of places and then seems to vanish completely when you reach the talus field above Source Lake. A GPS map is a necessity to find your way back to the Source Lake trail and minimize your unpleasant scrambling on loose rocks. That being said, the payoff is decent enough for this short detour with beautiful views up towards Chair Peak, down to Source Lake, and back towards Guye Peak. When I returned to the trailhead, the lot was considerably more crowded but I still felt very lucky to have enjoyed this popular hike on a mostly quiet day.
5 hours, 8.5 miles, 2,200 feet of elevation gain
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