Lake Ann, Esmeralda Basin (Esmerelda) — Saturday, Jul. 11, 2015

Snoqualmie Region > Salmon La Sac/Teanaway

We reached the trailhead at 10:30 AM and by that time the parking lot was full. Be sure to get there early, especially on the weekend to secure your parking spot otherwise you will have to park down the road. We started out on the Esmerelda Basin Trail at 10:40 AM. 0.4 miles into the hike you come to a junction. The trail to the right at the junction takes you to Longs Pass and Lake Ingalls, we continued straight on Esmerelda Basin Trail. We could tell that most people had gone to Longs Pass and Lake Ingalls because we only ran into a couple groups on the way up. I will definitely be going back to check out Longs Pass and Lake Ingalls. The Esmerelda Basin Trail is in pretty good shape for the most part. There were some loose rocks on the trail but the awesome volunteers with WTA did a great job of clearing the trail. It was overcast and cool heading up and clouds were starting to roll down from top of the basin. The first part of the hike you are going through the forest with very little elevation gain. Once we emerged from the forest we started a series of long switchbacks which took us up the side of a rocky cliff. We reached another junction on the trail and went right for Lake Ann. This junction took us on several smaller switchbacks that were a little steeper but nothing to challenging. At about 2:00 PM we made it to the top of the switchbacks and made camp. The campsite has room for 1-2 tents comfortably but you can probably get a third one in there just fine. After we made camp we continued on the trail through a nice open meadow and another series of switchbacks to the top of the ridge where down below sat Lake Ann. The views from the top of the ridge are truly spectacular, Lake Ann was crystal clear and the light hitting the mountain was perfect. We stayed up there for a few hours before coming back to camp at 7:30 for dinner.