Rachel Lake — Saturday, May. 23, 2015

Snoqualmie Region > Snoqualmie Pass

A late start found us at the trailhead parking area around noon on the Memorial Day weekend. The drive in is rough, but most of the potholes are avoidable and not terribly deep. Parking area was packed, but we found a spot in the lower lot and hit the trail. Trailhead is well marked and immediately climbs up the east side of Box Canyon Creek before somewhat leveling out as it works its way along the creek and the lovely meadow. Weather was sunny and low 70s and the trail was in good shape. There were just a couple of blowdowns to negotiate, the worst one being about 1/4 mile in. Waterproof footwear is good as you will cross a bunch of little streams and moist areas on the way up. Having read the trail descriptions and other reports we were aware that most of the climbing would come late in the hike. And it seemed that every person coming down had the same report " only xx to go, but it gets steeper!" We're already seemingly climbing and endless string of rock and root ladders thinking "how could it possibly get steeper?" Well, it does. But you climb in the shade almost the whole way with great glimpses of the creek and the valley below. We finally reached the lake late afternoon to find it windy and fogged in, with sporadic breaks just long enough to make out the far side of the lake. Amazing how quickly the weather changed in the last 1/4 mile. Even with all the vehicles below there were only a half dozen tents along the east shore of the lake, so we found a spot and pitched camp. The evening was damp and breezy with morning being the same. After a leisurely breakfast and breaking camp we headed down the mountain around noon. I could not believe how may people we passed coming up on a Sunday morning! Easily one of the most crowded trails I've been on, but it still was worth the effort and never felt like it was overcrowded. Still some patches of snow around the lake. A longer trip would have made the push to Lila or Rampart Lakes worth the extra effort for a bit more solitude.