Boulder Lake — Wednesday, Jul. 8, 2015

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

Today we hiked to Boulder Lake off the Suiattle River Road. The trail begins at the end of Tenas Creek Road (road 2660), seven miles after you turn off the Suiattle Road. The road is in good shape with a few rough spots but ok for most any vehicle. The first half mile or so is brushy but don't let that discourage you. The rest of the trail is pretty good though steep in places. The trail mostly follows Tenas Creek all the way to the lake. The trail is in the timber for about the first two miles then it breaks out into steep open meadows with wild flowers and boulder fields. At the head end of the canyon you will see the outflow from Boulder Lake cascading down the steep rocks. The trail crosses the creek and goes up a rocky slope to the right of the outflow. The lake is at the top of the rocky slope. I would guess it was about 3.5 miles from the trail head to the lake. It took us 2 hours up and 1 hour 40 min down. The lake was pristine and the surrounding mountains views were outstanding. We caught a few fish and went for a swim. Quite refreshing. We only saw three other people. I don't think this is a very popular hike though I'm not sure why. We loved it. Next time we might try to continue on for hurricane peak. There were no mosquitoes but the flies were annoying. I would recommend this hike especially if you like less populated hikes.