Mileage: 10 miles RT
Elevation Gain/Highest: 1800/4857ft
Map: Green Trails Snoqualmie Pass 207
Favorite Eats After Hike: Garlic Crush, Agave Cocina, North Bend Bar & Grill, Chang Thai & Pho, The Commonwealth, Basecamp Books & Bites, 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.
Hike Details:
An incredibly popular hike becomes an even more popular snowshoe when winter arrives. Starting from the Alpental parking lot, the route runs along the Snow Lake Trail, making steep switchbacks about 2 miles in to climb over a ridge into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and down to the level of Snow Lake. From here, the trail runs along the northeast corner of the lake, crosses the outlet and then climbs again to meet Gem Lake. This trail runs through avalanche territory, please check conditions before you go. Even if you find yourself with crowds, the trail may still not be safe to traverse when avalanche risk is high.
My Hike:
11/22/2015
We started out with spikes today and were one of the first groups on the trail. I must admit, I hadn’t done this popular hike before. Things were good and icy all the way to Snow Lake and we stopped for a break on the rock out cropping before you drop down the switchbacks to the lake.
Continuing on past Snow, we made our way over the outlet and up towards Gem.
Shortly after the slope traverse, we put on snowshoes for the rest of our journey.
We had lunch by ourselves at Gem but saw a few folks headed over to do some climbing on the peak to the west. Two of our group who were feeling ambitious climbed up to the top of Wright Mountain as we watched from below.
The crowds had moved in while we were there so our return trip had us passing by many an unprepared hiker for the trail conditions. Lots of slipping and sliding. I literally heard a guy brag to another that he didn’t need traction devices before his feet flew out from underneath him and he crashed rather painfully on his rear.
Even folks heading up at 3:30 pm from the trailhead with only an hour or so of daylight left. Thank goodness for microspikes!
Directions: From Exit 52 off I-90, turn left and drive to the ski area parking at Alpental. Arrive early, parking fills up fast on the weekends. Northwest Forest Pass required.
For more hikes along I-90, click HERE. Interested in a less crowded route to this beautiful spot? Check out my Backdoor Snow Lake trip! And if you are avalanche aware and familiar with scrambling travel, you can read about my trip to Avalanche Mountain off the Snow Lake Trail.
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