Snoqualmie Lake, Nordrum Lake — Tuesday, Jul. 20, 2010

Snoqualmie Region > North Bend Area

Started from Skykomish Foss River and hiked into Lake Dorothy on Friday night. Busy at lake, but able to find a fine camp spot on the north side of the lake near the inlet. Lots of bugs still so bring your deet. Lake Dorothy is a great beginning hike for kids and the lake was in great shape. Moved on to Snoqualmie, Bear, and Pear on the second day. Since these are a little higher bugs were even more prevalent than Dorothy. Only stayed at Bear for lunch until the bugs drove me made. I completed loop and went down through Snoqualmie lake, which was fairly busy, but had a few camp spots open. The trail was in good shape most of the way. The descent into Snoqualmie had a few washout spots, so you have to take it a little slow for 1/4 mile or so. But overall easy hiking and lots of sun. I continued down to "Y" with Nordrum lake trail, which I decided to take mid-day. To call this a "scratch" trail would be giving it too much credit. See attached pictures, it took about 3 hours or more to go 2.5 miles. The trail followed a creek that has had multiple mud slides over the years. In 3-4 places you lose the trail completely. Even when you are on the trail it straight up and has not been brushed in a few years. The lake is fairly nice, but only 1 campsite with 3-4 spots for tents. If anyone else is there you will be close neighbors. However, had the lake to myself and caught a nice rainbow. The dog in tow also had a great time, but would not recommend the trail to Nordrum with a dog. Very steep and very muddy, so most of my time was helping the dog get through the washouts and mud. The fish were biting, steep shoreline made it a little difficult to get the fly line out far enough to get them. Also, no water at camp the out let is around the other side of the lake from the camp. So bring a filter or boil is the best option. Headed back through Middle Fork for my pickup and stopped at Lily lake to have lunch by the waterfall. All in all good trip, still lots of bugs for a while so keep moving. However, good news is no snow anywhere on this hike. Happy Hiking:) TK (Tall Kid)