Packwood Lake — Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025

The weather was so nice this weekend, so I had to take advantage of it. I did this as a loop via the Packwood Lake trail to the lake and the Pipeline trail back to the trailhead. The trail to the lake was mostly in great condition, but there are about four or five small trees down that were easy to climb over, starting about 2 miles in. There were a couple of small water crossings which were also easy with Goretex boots, and passable with watching your steps if you’re in regular shoes. There wasn’t a ton of fall color on the trail in but lots of mushrooms. The lake was beautiful, and there was a light dusting of snow higher up on the trees across the lake surrounding Johnson Peak. I didn’t venture around it to know how the trail is going toward the camping area. The Pipeline trail back was much more muddy and had a lot of large puddles, all of which was passable on the edges. There was lots of mushrooms along here as well and more fall color than the way in, but it’s definitely the last of the color. I enjoyed some of the old-growth trees and the open view of Mount Rainier toward the end that this trail had as well. Overall, it was a beautiful trail and day out, especially for November.