Lake 22 — Friday, Oct. 2, 1998

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

We had planned for Circle Peak, but a foot of snow above 4500' led me to take my guests from out of town somewhere else. (Waaahhh! Summer really is over!) Somehow we managed the whole hike without too much rain. Most of the H2O was in the form of waterfalls. Nice tread at first, then a serious amount of erosion on the hills. There are so many roots and rocks ready to twist an ankle, I can't really recommend this as an all ages, family type hike. Our party had more than one spill negotiating slick rock. Only pride took a beating. The lake is pleasant, and not too crowded now. Time to start dressing warm, kiddies. The sign at the trailhead informing us that ""trail dollars are at work"" was a lie. I could be wrong, but I believe only WTA volunteers worked on this trail this summer. [Online Editor's note: I have lead two trips on Lake 22 this year and alsoused it for skills building twice. We have another work party on the 25thof this month. The Darrington crew HAS worked on it this yearremoving blowdown and repairing the railing and bull-rails on the bridgeover Twenty-Two Creek as well as doing other basic trail maintenance.]