Snow Lake

My original post seems to have disappeared, fortunately I still have the photos from this hike up to Snow Lake in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, starting from Alpental at Snoqualmie Pass. We hike up to the lake and around to the outlet, before returning. Overall our hike was about 7.5 miles round trip with 1,800 ft of overall gain. We saw a few waterfalls along the way.

Hoar frost covered part of the trail.

Another partially frozen waterfall

The nearby peaks going up the switchbacks were covered in clouds.

Lots of large icicles along the switchbacks and some frosty trees

Portions of the trail were very frozen, we wore our microspikes.

View of Snow Lake along the switchbacks going down to the lake

Part of the trail was snow covered boulders crossing this stream.

Views looking across Snow Lake as we continued along the trail

Very frozen trail heading down to the log bridge across the outlet

View next to the log bridge over the outlet, we decided to turn around here today.

icicles hanging off a log over the lake (zoom)

icicles hanging from tree branches at the edge of the lake (zoom)

some snowy peaks north of Snow Lake seen from the trail

View as seen from the snow covered boulder crossing as we returned

We took the side trail down to the lake shore.

There were some icicles hanging from large rocks at the edge of the lake.

Ice covering the edge of the lake

Swirl patterns in the ice over the creek

View from the boulders above the lake back up at the pass. We had our lunch break near here.

There were some obnoxious gray jays harassing us as we ate our lunch. Unfortunately, the cute pica was too fast for me to get a photo as it ran around the boulders near here.

Returning down the switchbacks,

the nearby peaks were cloud covered in a different way as seen on our way back.

 

Snow Lake

We drove up to Snoqualmie Pass (Alpental) to hike up to Snow Lake before the upcoming winter storm. The trail was mostly icy with packed down snow around Snow Lake, no snow in the avalanche areas. Overall we hiked 7.4 miles round trip with 1.750 ft of gain. Frozen Waterfall near the beginning of the trail.

A mostly frozen waterfall that crosses the trail

Hoar frost

Another mostly frozen waterfall

icicles on rocks bordering the trail

As we went up the switchbacks below the saddle we could see some peaks emerging through the clouds.

Frosty trees and large icicles on the cliffs above us

We saw some large broken icicles on the trail.

Large icicles on the side of the trail.

Some very icy sections along the switchbacks

The trail enters the Alpine Lakes Wilderness at the saddle. We found blue sky as we descended the switchbacks on the Snow Lake side of the saddle.

Icy creek near the lake

Some views as we hiked around Snow Lake

There was a very steep section of the trail that was very icy, we made it down and later back up, glad we wore our micro spikes.

View of Snow Lake and Mount Roosevelt near the lake outlet. We had a time limit today, so choose this as our turn around spot.

Icicles hanging off tree branches over the lake

Icicles hanging off a downed log on the lake

Snowy Cascade peaks seen from the trail section returning towards the Snow Lake Trail.

Back to the frozen creek crossing with a view of Chair Peak.

We took the spur trail down to the lake access for some nice views as the sky became cloudy.

Icicles hanging off boulders at the edge of the lake

I liked the icicles hanging off the edge of the ice that was over the lake.

Swirling patterns in the ice

Back at the saddle we went over to the viewpoint at the boulders and ate our lunch.

Unfortunately, we were harassed by grey jays, one stole the sandwich bag right out of my hand. I was able to get most of it back. I wish people would not feed the jays as it makes them very aggressive. We were fortunate to see a pike running around (too fast for me to get a photo).

Enjoyed seeing the icicles along the trail on our way back down.

Although it was more cloudy as we hiked out, we did glimpse these peaks through the clouds.