Summit Lake

Went to Summit Lake just north of the Carbon River in the Clearwater Wilderness and were surprised to find out we had the entire hike to ourselves. The weather was better than predicted, we had some sun, occasional views of Mt Rainier and no rain showers! it is 2.5 miles to the Lake and another mile to do the loop around the lake, so 6 miles with 1,300 ft of elevation gain.
We found snow along the trail a short ways into the hike.

There is a small waterfall under the bridge on the trail.

View of Bearhead Mtn from Twin Lake. This is where the trail divides, to the left: Summit Lake and to the right: Bearhead Mtn. We went left.

 A frozen pond a short ways up the trail.

 As the trail neared Summit Lake, we had a glimpse of Mt Rainier between the trees.

Pano as we neared Summit Lake. We decided to hike clockwise around the lake, going up the steeper section of the ridge first.

 A frozen pond near Summit Lake (the ice was very thin) be careful as the snow covers the edges of the pond.

 View of Summit Lake to the north, as we begin to climb up the ridge.

 When we first reached the top of the ridge, Mt Rainier was covered in clouds, but we had a nice view of Bearhead Mtn and Coplay Lake.

Pano from the ridge looking west towards Puget Sound

 Pano from the ridge looking east to south

 It was fun to watch the clouds moving across Mt Rainier.

 There are several spots along the trail where there are views of Mt Rainier hiking down the ridge.

 Wide angle of Summit Lake looking eastward. Far in the distance on the left, we saw Mt Stuart.

 What a beautiful day this turned out to be. We found it slippery on the way down the ridge, so used our micro spikes.












Pano from Summit Lake, where we stopped for a lunch break before hiking out.