Snow Lake, Wright Mountain & Gem Lake — Saturday, Jul. 8, 2023

Beautiful, busy, and hot! Wanted to get a hike in that was reasonably long, but needed to stay relatively close to home. Decided to make the trek out to Gem Lake and then either extend to Wildcat Lakes or Wright Mountain, depending on how I was feeling. Due to the heat, and remembering how up and down this trail is, I settled on Wright Mountain.

Parking: as is already well known, this is one of the busiest trails near Seattle, so parking was expectedly a mess. I arrived later than intended around 8:15 and foolishly tried the upper lot. It was full but I was able to easily get a spot in the lower lot (which was very quickly filling up).

The bathroom at the trailhead had about a 15 person wait, so I did not use it.

Trailhead to Snow Lake: I like to call this the Disneyland of hikes near Seattle. Along with Rattlensake and Lake 22, the ease of accessibility and arguably better payoff, brings all sorts of hikers and non-hikers out. A sunny summer day was no exception. The trail was busy! Single file to start, but I was able to pass some groups. An early morning cloud inversion was a nice touch but didn’t provide the cooling relief I was hoping for. Once at the overlook for Snow Lake, people were a bit more spread out. Bugs were swarming at the overlook, but less noticeable while hiking.

Snow Lake to Gem Lake: my second time making this continuation on to Gem and I forgot how up and down the trail is. It’s rocky quite often and with the heat, gets pretty tiring. I was trying to keep up a good pace to make it to Gem which probably tired me out. As is typical, less crowds after leaving Snow Lake but still quite busy. A lot of people at the various points along the lakeshore and countless backpackers. I think the group in front of me was going to overnight and Wildcat.

Gem Lake to Wright Mountain: by the time I got to Gem Lake, I decided that a further push to Wildcat Lakes was out of the question. The heat and trail had just taken it out of me. I followed my AllTrails map through some campsites and ran into a fellow hiker who was coming down from Wright and mentioned the views were great and the trial was a bit steep and rocky. I encountered one other group about a minute later, two ladies near the bottom of the trail and then didn’t see anyone else while I was coming up or down. Bugs were worse on the climb to Wright, especially when I stopped in a patch of shade, prompting me to put on my bug net and seriously question not applying bug spray to that point. The trail is pretty easy to follow as it’s on dirt, then rocks that cairns help point the way to the summit. It’s a bit of a scramble to the top, but nothing crazy as someone who doesn’t scramble often. Views are great in every direction and it was rewarding to look down at all of the activity at Gem Lake. Conditions were a bit hazy, but overall great. There is a trail register that is almost out of paper, if anyone is heading up soon. Plenty of space to stretch out and I was glad I had my backpacking chair. Mostly butterflies and some flies at the top. I enjoyed lunch and then put on some bug spray for the trip back. Probably at the summit alone for around 45 minutes which was more than enough in the sun.

The trip back was as expected. Lots of hikers coming up to Gem with a few asking how much further. I think the heat made the hike feel even longer for everyone. The climb back up from Snow Lake was slow going. Lots of hikers that don’t know they should pull over for faster hikers. Several groups of people hiking out that would just stop in the middle of the trail, not realizing there were people right behind them. I was probably a bit extra grumpy with them.

Overall, a great day in the mountains! I clocked 12 miles and 3,586 elevation gain.