Snow Lake and Gem Lake Fall Hike

 A beautiful sunny morning today had us heading up to Snoqualmie Pass and Alpental to hike up to Snow Lake and Gem Lake. This is a gorgeous hike into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. 10+ mile round trip with about 2,200 ft overall elevation gain. The trail was icy on the way down from pass down to Snow Lake and from Snow Lake up to Gem Lake today.

Early along the trail, we could see the snow covered Tooth, Bryant Peak and Chair Peak.

 There were several small waterfalls coming down off of the hillsides.

 Water spilling over the trail.

 Better views of the Tooth and Bryant Peak as we continued up the trail.

 There were some frost covered plants along the first part of the trail.

 View from the switchbacks heading up to the pass before Snow Lake.

 At the pass, we entered the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and encountered our first snow on the trail.

 There was a small snowman to greet us this morning.

Icicles.

 The trail down from the pass had little snow, but was very icy. Our first view of Snow Lake and the trail descends to the lake. The trail to Gem Lake goes around the far side, up the ridge in the back, and crosses between the two peaks.

 Water heading down through this pond towards Snow Lake,


















instead of heading down to the shore of Snow Lake here, we continued on the main trail going over these rocks.

Wide angle view of Snow Lake from further up the trail.

In the morning the sun was shinning, the sky was blue and so was the lake. Love the reflection!

For a short ways, the trail goes to the northeast, away from Snow Lake to the junction of the High Lakes Trail and the Rock Creek Trail. Here we could see these beautiful snowy peaks. Maybe Chimney Rock West and Summit Chief Mountain. 

The High Lakes Trail to Gem Lake, returns to Snow Lake and  crosses Rock Creek on this log.

Looking towards Rock Creek from the log.

 As the trail climbed up above Snow Lake, we encountered more snow on the trail and saw this pika.

There were lots of wild cat prints in the snow.

There were frozen ponds along the way.

Almost at the pass above Snow Lake towards Gem Lake.

Gem Lake with Wright Mountain behind it.

The views from further along the trail were spectacular!  Maybe Kaleetan Peek in the background? 

We didn't make it to the far side of Gem Lake, as we had reached our "turn around" time. 

Heading back down from the pass to Snow Lake, seen below. The pass from the trailhead to Snow Lake is seen at the far side of Snow Lake.

A pond seen on the way back down to Snow Lake.

By the time we returned to Snow Lake, the skies were getting cloudy and the lake was turning gray.

Wide angle shot of Snow Lake in the afternoon.

A great day outdoors in the wilderness today. We were surprised to see this harebell in bloom along the trail.

Some of the fall colors and mushrooms we saw along the trail: