Mileage: 11.5 RT
Elevation Gain/Highest:1400 /4200ft
Map: Green Trails Bandera No. 206
Favorite Eats After Hike: Garlic Crush, Agave Cocina, North Bend Bar & Grill, Chang Thai & Pho, The Commonwealth, or just Pack A Cooler. You can learn more about these places in my Must Hike Must Eat Eating Out Guide.
Find out current conditions and as always, practice Leave No Trace. Pretty Please.
My Hike:
5/6/2016
We hiked out around 1pm from the trailhead to see how far we would get today and made it all the way to Pratt. This was my first time on this trail and my stepdaughter had hiked as far as Ollalie before. The trail to Talapus was bare and wet in spots, day was early so we continued on.
The trail to Ollalie had partial snow but there were a few footprints to follow and we made it there easy enough. We had stopped at Talapus for a bite to eat so after a few pictures at Ollalie and consulting our Green Trails, we decided to head straight up (off trail) to the trail junction to Island Lake rather than go back and around.
There was enough boot path to follow off and on despite a lot of debris and we connected right where someone had left yellow tagging on the official trail. There was no snow on this section.
We continued on and down to Pratt. There are a few significant blowdowns and patches of melting snow that make navigating the snow a bit sketchy. I put on spikes for the downhill a bit but didn’t on the way up. There is the risk of postholing, just try and stay on the compacted areas. My stepdaughter did fall through to her waist once as we got closer to the lake.
We had Pratt to ourselves, gorgeous. The trillium was out and lovely. We got back to the car by 7:30, making it a fantastic way to start the weekend!
I wrote a post about this hike, I Am Yearning. Check it out!
Directions: From Seattle, head east on I-90 to exit 45. Turn left, and drive under the freeway on FR 9030. In 1 mile follow the road around to the right at a junction. Continue straight on a severely potholed road to the trailhead at the road’s end. A Northwest Forest Pass is needed.
Click here for more hikes on I-90.
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