A Fall Hike on the Snow Lake Trail

We took a Fall hike up the Snow Lake Trail

Last weekend Scott and I wanted to get out and enjoy Fall, so we headed to Snow Lake Trail at Alpental on Snoqualmie Pass.  It is about a forty-five minute drive from Seattle and the scenery was beautiful!

To get to the trail head, simply follow the signs to Alpental ski area. We arrived about 10:30am and the parking lot was packed!

There were some serious hikers in the lot, with their walking poles and gear. Only wearing tennis shoes and sweats, I got a bit worried. The hike is about 7.2 miles round trip with about 1100 feet elevation. As soon as you leave the parking lot, you start inclining right away.

Note the switchbacks towards the end of the trail – they are many of them and it’s a hike up!

A moderate hike

That was the description on the Washington Trails Association website.  The trail starts out with a mild incline through the woods.

Because we have had such a dry summer, the trail was pretty clean. However, if we had any amount of rain the day before, the trails would have been really muddy.

I will say there were a lot of dogs and elderly people on the trail, but it was extremely rocky and I wouldn’t recommend it for either.  Soon after you begin your ascent through the wooded part of the trail, the trail turns pretty rocky. You really have to watch your step, so you don’t twist an ankle.

But the vistas are gorgeous has you ascend up the mountain.

How long does the hike take?

The hike took us about two and half hours to get to the top and two hours to get down. We hike slow, so you could trim some time off of that.

Just as you approach the summit, you will come across some stairs.

These lead to the summit and rocks overlooking Snow Lake.

The guide says the trip is 7.2 miles round trip, but my Fitbit only said 6.3 miles. We think this is because the trail continued down to the lake. It would have been great to go see it, but that would have meant we would have to come back up!

We got to the top, now we have to get back down

While the views and vistas were amazing, the hike itself wasn’t that relaxing. The trail is so rocky that you really needed to watch every step you took, as to not twist an ankle.

At the end of the day, it was a fun hike. Just be sure to wear comfortable shoes and honestly, walking sticks would be smart too.  Below is Episode #24 with our full tour.

If you are new to our blog, you are probably wondering why we are talking about hiking when this is a boating blog. Well, a month ago we sold our boat and now we are taking the winter off. We’ll start shopping for our next boat come February. In the meantime, we’re exploring sights around Seattle and the PNW.

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Cheers, Scott and Ally