Crystal Lakes — Saturday, Jul. 2, 2022

Got to the trailhead around 8:30am on Saturday. There were already around 12-15 cars there, but still plenty of space to park. The trail starts climbing pretty much immediately, but it never gets super steep—it just keeps going up. There are a few nice peek-a-boo views of Rainier on the way up.

There are intermittent patches of snow to cross starting after the lower lake. I brought spikes but didn’t need them, but I liked having my poles for balance. The boot path through the snow is established enough that you don’t need to worry about losing the trail, and I didn’t notice any dicey sections where a slip would be dangerous. I did see a few places where the snow is hollowing out underneath, so that’s something to look out for as it continues to melt. 

The upper lake has a bit of ice left on it, but not much, and there are flowers starting to bloom where the snow has melted. We found a spot along the shore to have lunch, checked out the campsites for future trip planning, and headed back down. My GaiaGPS recorded us at 6.4 miles in 3 hours and 40 minutes.