This was my birthday trip, and a fabulous one at that!
We went into this trip with a mindset of, enjoy the journey, and headed up slow and steady. We brought along our 8yo, although many friends said it would be a mistake. My advice… parents, you know your kids best, do what your gut says. My kid was ultra determined, with enough grit (and a bit of group encouragement) that he absolutely killed it! Thank you to all the hikers who gave him kudos and high fives! I love the hiking community so much! It was one of the most memorable and rewarding experiences of my parenting life, watching him achieve his goal! He is beyond proud of himself, and I know this will be a memory he cherishes for a long time
For our trip, we hiked to Nada Lake, and camped for the first night. The next day we packed up and headed the short climb to upper Snow Lake, where we based our camp for the rest of the trip. On our third day we ventured up to explore the core area, around Lake Vivian and Leprechaun Lake.
The bugs were annoying in the am and pm for sure. Mid day was not bad at all.. depending on are you were (boggy areas were bad always obviously). We sprayed our clothes/gear with Permethrin ahead of time, used bug nets and a bit of Deet as well. Bugs LOVE me usually, and I would say for this trip, I actually fared ok with the above combo.
There were lots of great camp sites around both lakes. The sites along upper Snow Lake, near the inlet, filled up quickly during our stay. We were lucky to snag one with a fantastic rock peninsula, which we spent most of our camp time lounging on, and watching stars into the night.
The core area was just breath taking, as expected. Water crossings were relatively easy, for the sure footed( dry feet with no need to remove shoes in the areas we visited). The trail up from Snow Lake to Vivian lake was in good shape despite many steep sections. The cairns really were helpful in several cases. We definitely felt like mountain goats climbing up the rock faces at a few parts though!
For me, the most challenging part of the entire trip was the route down from Snow Lake to the trail head. As the description mentions it’s a long time going steadily downhill and by the time you get a couple miles from the parking lot your legs ( mostly my ankles) are definitely feeling it. But the true difficulty was the intense heat we felt the closer we got to the trail head. The Ranger up at Snow Lake advised to start early when hiking out, as the lower elevations were much, much hotter. I would definitely recommend that. We unfortunately got a late start our last day and came down to a trail head with 100° heat. Yuck!
Worth noting, we saw two mama and baby goats that seem to live about a mile outside of Nada lake. They were pretty chill but good to be aware of them. Also on our way out the last day, in that same area, we ran into the resident mama bear and her cub, who were lazily grazing on vegetation, right beside the trail. Stay vigilant and give them space. They seem to care less that we were around, but you just never know.
All in all the Snow Lakes approach is long, but it was beautiful in and of itself and I would certainly consider doing it again to access the core area.
Happy Hiking!
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