Looking for a fairly easy hike to a nice cool alpine lake? Add in some decent fishing and you have Snow Lake.
Trail Stats:
6.5 miles round trip, 1700ft of elevation gain
Directions:
From Seattle, take I-90 East to exit 52. At the end of the off ramp, take a left under the highway. Take the second road on your right (the one right after the road to the Kendall Katwalk trailhead). Continue to the parking lot at the end of the road, approximately 1.2 miles (right after the “welcome to Alpental” sign). A Northwest Forest Pass is required to park in the lot. The trailhead is on the opposite side of the road from the parking lot and is pretty hard to miss.
Trail:
Let me start off by saying, this is not a peaceful hike. As you’ll probably see by the number of cars in the lot, this is a pretty busy trail. You will constantly run into other hikers, so don’t expect a lot of time in the woods by yourself.
That said, there is a reason for this trail’s popularity. Snow Lake is a very nice destination on a hot day that offers some decent fishing and easy access from the trail. The trail itself is very well established and near impossible to get lost on. Additionally, this is a decent hike for parents with kids looking for something a bit harder than Franklin Falls.
The trail itself starts to the left of the large Snow Lake Trail sign. As this hike does enter the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, you will need to fill out a permit at the trail head. That done, continue up the trail. For the first .2 miles or so, you will be climbing a series of steps built into the hill for erosion control. These steps end quick enough, and you’ll pass through a couple avalanche chutes that offer good views of the Alpental Ski area and the surrounding peaks.
At 1.5 miles from the parking lot, you’ll reach a fork in the trail. Keep to the right to head to Snow Lake. At this point the trail begins to gain a bit of elevation as you start to head over the pass to the lake. The views will also open up a bit as you continue up the hill.
Eventually you’ll run out of hill to climb, and you’ll come to the pass. There appear to be a couple camping spots up here and this is also the border to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Continue along the trail and in about 2 minutes you get your first view of the lake.
The day we were up here, this was pretty much covered by a cloud. So, I can’t tell you how great of a view this is, but it looked like it might be a pretty nice one. Keep on hiking for another 5 minutes or so and you’ll reach the shore of Snow Lake. Enjoy a bit of a break, and turn around back the way you came to reach the car.
