Kendall Peak Lakes Snowshoe

Drove up to the east side of Snoqualmie Pass to hike/snowshoe up to Kendall Knob and the Kendall Peak Lakes. About 10 miles round trip with 2,200 ft of gain. I only needed to use snowshoes to get to the upper of the 3 Kendall lakes. Only attempt going to the upper lake on a no to low avalanche risk day.

This is a popular snowshoe/winter hike, however I only saw 5 others while I was coming back down the road portion: 3 hikers, 1 snow boarder and 1 person riding up on a fat tire bike.

Was surprised to see how much of the road has eroded away by Coal Creek at the crossing to the trailhead. Started in the clouds at the pass. The route is up the closed forest road. The route all the way up to Kendall Knob was well packed down so I was able to go up with micro spikes on my boots and carried my snowshoes.

Most of the first 3 miles is in the forest with limited views. Started to get above the clouds around 4,000+ ft.

Was able to see the top of the peaks around the ski area at Snoqualmie Pass on my way up.

The clouds seemed to be rising, I hoped I wouldn't be engulfed in clouds at the Knob.

As I continued up, I watched the clouds move around Kendall Peak.

The sky around me was clear as I neared to turn off to the lakes, I decided to stay on the closed road to the end (named Kendall Knob by hikers) to see the view while it lasted.

View to the southeast from Kendall Knob, beautiful color in the sky, Mt Rainier to the far right.

zoom of Mt Rainier, partially covered in clouds

zoom of some the other peaks 

Rampart Ridge to the east

From Kendall Knob, I headed back down the road to a turn off to the lakes.

I tried not to drop down to the lower two lakes as I headed through the forest to the Upper Lake. I was following a couple of snowshoe and ski tracks that were not packed down. I was glad I brought my snowshoes for this portion. 

Staying above the lower lake, keeping to the east.

By the time I got past the lower two lakes, I was keeping an eye on my map and following a faint track of a skier and one snowshoer. This route crossed underneath an avalanche chute.

The last bit to the upper of the 3 lakes, was quite steep. The snow was somewhat soft and had some give. I would not have gone up if it had been icy. as there was a drop off to the left.

The highest of the 3 Kendall Lakes sits below Kendall Peak. Beautiful spot to take a lunch break.

As I snowshoed back down from the upper lake, I side tracked to walk closer by the lower two lakes. View of the middle lake:

Coal Creek between the lower two lakes

Coal creek by the lower of the 3 lakes

Was nice to see some partial views as I headed back down the trail, overlooking the ski area at Snoqualmie Pass (Mt Rainier to the far left).

Blue sky as I began to descend beneath the clouds

zoom of some of the peaks to the southwest

Kendall Knob

 The Kendall Knob is near Kendall Peak Lakes (basically the same trail). I did not go to the lakes, but did go up and enjoy the beautiful views from Kendall Knob on a gorgeous winter day. The trailhead is at the first SnoPark across I-90 from Hyak on the east side of Snoqualmie Pass. The route up the Knob is on a close forest service road, so is fairly easy to follow. (The route to the lakes are off of the closed road).
Staying on the road (not taking any shortcuts), this was a 7.8 mile round trip with 1,700 ft of gain. The route was well packed down, and icy this morning so I used micro spikes for the entire hike.
The moon was setting and the sun beginning to rise as I started out. At the beginning of the trail a bridge crosses over this creek (looking east).




I was still in the trees while the sky was peak, so gorgeous even though I had not yet reached a viewpoint.










Loved the many icicles hanging off of this tree near some running water

As the road climbs up the side of the mountain, there are some open areas with views. I could see that Snoqualmie West was covered in fog as I hiked under beautiful blue skies.










Further up, begin to see the Kendall Peaks













Closer look at the Kendall Peaks, the lakes are in the forest below the peaks.

The road takes a sharp turn towards the east,

 and ends at a nice clearing on Kendall Knob!













Pano looking east to southeast: Rampart Ridge, Keechelus Lake, and Mt Rainier peeking over some south Cascade mountains

 As I was returning down the road, I noticed another view of Mt Rainier peeking over the Cascades, that I had missed on the way up.

 Back near the trailhead, this time looking west at the bridge.

Kendall Peak Lakes Snowshoe

 Found some sun and blue skies on a cloudy day up at Snoqualmie Pass and snowshoed up to Kendall Peak Lakes.
Our trip was about 8.5 miles round trip with 1,700 ft of elevation gain.
The trail starts on the north side of I-90 across from Hyak. A closed forest road is the majority of this hike. We crossed this stream at the beginning of the hike.
The route was well packed down along the forest road, and while we were going up on the road we wore our microspikes and carried our snowshoes.

Some of the nearby peaks as we gained elevation.

 When we reached the last set of switchbacks, we took the steep short cut up to the lakes. This area was not as well packed down, so we donned our snowshoes.
Although there were many people snowshoeing and hiking up to the viewpoint at the end of the road, we would not see any other people once we headed up the short cut, until we were almost finished with our lunch break at the lake.

 View of Kendall Peaks, from here it is a short ways to the lakes.

 creek at the lower lake

Lower Kendall Lake

 Middle Kendall Peak Lake, where we enjoyed our lunch break.

 Heading from the lakes to the viewpoint along the closed forest road, we could see the ski area across the valley.

 The clouds obscured the view of Mt Rainier to the south, but we did have glimpses of Gold Creek Pond and Keechelus Lake below us to the east.











Another view of Kendall Peaks as we headed back down.

Kendall Peak Lakes Snowshoe

 Beautiful day to be out in the mountains. We drove up to Snoqualmie Pass to do the Kendall Peak Lakes Snowshoe. 8.5 miles rt with 1,700 ft elevation gain. The trail goes up a close forest road and is easy to follow. We found the trail well packed down and icy. We used microspikes for the majority of the trip, only using snowshoes in the deeper less traveled on snow within the lake basin.

 Lots of lovely relatively fresh snow covering the trees.

 We followed the road until we reached the steep short cut going straight up the slope, cutting off some of the switchbacks along the road.

The short cut soon joins the main trail on the road.

Looking toward the cirque where Kendall Peak Lakes are located. There was only a light track headed out toward the lakes, we soon found ourselves post holing and switched to snowshoes.

 the lower Kendall Peak Lake

 We had a lunch break at the middle Kendall Peak Lake. We did not attempt to find the upper lake as it is lies among the avalanche prone cirque walls.

 We then snowshoed over toward the overlook area on the road.

 Here we were following a single ski track in soft deep snow. Even on snowshoes I potholed up to my thighs a couple of times.

Wide angle view of Alta Mountain, Keechelus Lake and in the distance Mt Rainier.

 We stayed on the road all the way down, continuing to enjoy this winter wonderland.