Mirror and Cottonwood Lakes — Thursday, Sep. 8, 2016

Snoqualmie Region > Snoqualmie Pass

This is a short and easy hike to a nice lake located just south of Snoqualmie Pass. The most outstanding feature of the hike were the beautiful ripe Huckleberries all along the trail. Most people park at the sign marked "Mirror Lake Tr". Theoretically you could drive the nasty dirt road another 0.3 mi but it's definitely not worth the attempt unless you have a beater 4WD Jeep. This road is rutted rocky and encroached by brush (see photo). The unmarked true trail leaves the jeep track at 0.3 mi where the road makes a bend to the right. Just south of Cottonwood Lake the forest of Mountain Hemlock and Silver Fir is quite old and beautiful. The trees are widely spaced and the understory is all Huckleberry bushes. Many of the bushes are chock full of delicious ripe berries right now. The trees are only about 2-3 feet in diameter but they range in age from about 400 to 800 years old. I counted rings on a 1.5 foot diameter cut windfall and it was 450 years old!! At just over 1 mi, the trail intersects with the PCT. Left takes you along the south shore of Mirror Lake. Just beyond the lake outlet the PCT decends into a sea of clearcuts that extend all the way to Hwy 410. This makes for a nice open view but I wouldn't waste my time hiking in that direction. We saw several hikers on the PCT just now making their way up from Mexico. We talked with one couple from Houston Tx who had some interesting stories to tell about their journey. Next we headed north on the PCT to an unnamed pass about 1/2 from mirror lake. The pass is forested and there are no views but a rude path along the ridge to the northeast opens up to a nice view of Cottonwood Lake and surrounding valley in less than 0.2 mi. Next time I will continue on and try to scramble up to peak 4902 for a wider view. RT 4.8 mi and 1000 ft elevation gain