Summit Lake — Sunday, Jul. 22, 2018

Mount Rainier Area > NW - Carbon River/Mowich

Great day to hike! The drive took me a little under two hours from downtown Seattle, the last stretch of road is rough as mentioned but navigable in my Jeep. Parking lot was a bit more crowded than I would have guessed at 930am, but many folks were still returning from overnight stays and there was still a good number of parking spots. Steady incline much of the hike, reached the lake after about 2.75 miles and in an hour. Took the right path up to the overlook and would highly recommend it. The best views were on my way up. The trail forks at one point early in the right route, stay right for the incline and you’ll be good. Completed the loop by taking the more steep route back, it was alright but I would have rather taken the same path back as I did up. Better views and slower decline. Didn’t have swimming gear which was disappointing because the water looked great, waded in for a bit and was refreshing. Missed the split for the trail back at first so did a bit of extra walking around the lake but spent about hour doing the loop + photos + quick lunch. Total trip time was around 3 hours. Trail was moderately trafficked by humans, heavily trafficked by bugs.