Jim and I have been wanting to do an Alpine Lakes Traverse for many years. With help from Fay and Jim Aga, we were able to do the traverse over our anniversary last week.
The weather forecast was not great for a 5 day trip: 3 nice days of weather sandwiched between 2 questionable days. But when have we ever paid a whole lot of attention to the weather. Our opinion always seems to be “How bad can it be?”. As Fay drove us up the Middle Fork Snoqualmie road in the rain, we joked about how wet we were going to get on our bushwhack to Big Snow Lake.
As it turned out, the bushes were way wetter than we expected. We were completely soaked before we even reach Myrtle Lake which was all on trail. As we turned into the soaking wet brush, neither Jim nor I were in a good mood. There was next to no conversation for the next couple of hours.
After fighting through the wet brush for a hour, we broke out into the boulders. Wet, slippery boulders. Not sure which was slower; the bushwhacking or wet boulder field.
Eventually we were able to get into some wet grass and heather which was equally slow.
I think we were both equally happy to reach the final class 3 section which climbs the stream outlet gully. It may have been wet but at least it meant this was almost over.
The view of Big Snow Lake brought a smile to my face.
It really is a pretty lake. With vertical, granite walls and sandy access points. Too bad it wasn’t swimming weather.
We located a small way trail and within 5 minutes, we arrived at Snowflake Lake.
And camp for the night.
Even with the clouds, it was warm enough to eat dinner outside. We wished it was even a little sunny. The lake was the perfect temp for a swim. But no. We went to bed hopeful that we would wake to blue sky.
In the morning, we found ourselves camped in a cloud. The weather was actually worse than yesterday. We were completely done camping in a fog bank. We decided to climb Big Snow Mountain and if we were still in a cloud, we would go home.
After yet another breakfast in the tent, we headed up Big Snow Mountain.
At least today was not full of wet brush, it had wet rock gullies instead.
The gully might have been miserable to climb but the view from the top was quite nice.
When we reached the summit of Big Snow Mountain, we were not impressed.
This was Jim’s 3rd trip up Big Snow Mountain. He believes it offers the best views of the Snoqualmie Mountains. This is what I was missing.
We were both done being in the fog so we discussed different routes to bail out. Neither of us were going back the way we had come. In the end, we decided to continue our route down to Gold Lake and camp tonight. If it was still crapping in the morning, we would head down to Lake Dorothy and bail out.
We took a quick summit photo before packing up and heading down the ridge.
We might not have had any views but the ridge off the summit was a hoot!
Within 15 minutes, the clouds started to break up and we could see Big Snow Lake and Myrtle Lake below us.
After the ridge, we came to the granite slabs leading down to Gold Lake. These were amazing! We descended gentle slabs for over an hour. They just went on and on. So much fun.
We kept looking over the edge of the ridge in hope of seeing Upper Hardscrabble Lake. After all we were on an Alpine Lakes Traverse. Wasn’t the goal to see as many elusive alpine lakes as possible.
At one point, I turned around and noticed that we could see the summit of Big Snow Mountain. Jim and I were privately getting excited that the weather might actually be clearing. Neither of us said anything as not to jinx us.
I went back to enjoying the rock slab descent with intermittent tarns.
Eventually, the Snoqualmie Mountains started to break through the clouds. The summit of Lemah Mountain actually made a showing.
As we descended, Gold Lake slowly came into view.
The closer we got to the lake, the more we could see why Gold Lake is coveted by Lake Baggers. Not only was the lake beautiful but we encountered several cute tarns along the way.
From above the lake, Jim and I could see a high ridge near the lake shore. We both thought it looked like a great spot to camp.
Our campsite might not have been completely flat but you couldn’t beat the view.
We settle in for an anniversary dinner starting with margaritas and queso dip. Gold Lake was a perfect, secluded spot to spend our anniversary. We had the whole place to ourselves. We wondered how many people a year actually make it into Gold Lake. The only access is through the bushes so you really have to want to come here.
We woke to blue skies. Time to continue the traverse. First, we needed to get off the rock knoll we had camped on and get into the lake basin. It took us 3 tries to find a gully that didn’t end in a cliff.
Once in the basin, we wondered by multiple tarns and cute little streams.
Around every turn there was another tarn.
It must have taken us an hour to get from camp to the outlet stream. We kept stopping, taking pictures, and walking the long way around the tarns.
Bannock Lakes was the most beautiful lake basins I had been to until now. Gold Lake is like Bannock Lakes 10 fold. No kidding!
When we finally reached the outlet stream, we got back on task of climbing out of the basin and onto the ridge to continue our traverse. We were able to find a crud trail that worked its way to the ridge crest. This helps us avoid most of the boulder fields.
When we stopped for a break on the ridge crest, Jim found a friend.
We were amazed by the number of tarns that still existed on the ridge crest. The heatwaves devastated our glaciers but the tarns seem to have survived.
Staying on the ridge crest involved scrambling through trees and ascending boulder fields.
The ridge did have the occasional heather basin which were delightful.
After crossing below the notch in the ridge, we were forced into the boulder field so we could cross under the summit of Wild Goat Peak.
When we were under the climbing route, we dropped our big packs and put on almost empty summit packs. They were fabulous to scramble in. We took a jacket, water bottle, and some food. Why couldn’t all summit packs be this light?
In less than 30 minutes, we were standing on the summit. So this was the view I missed yesterday in the fog.
The summit looked right down on Gold Lake.
We stayed on the summit until both us had our fill of the view and then scrambled back down to our big packs. Now on to Chetwoot Lake.
In an attempt to avoid some of the big boulder fields, we scrambled straight down the nose. This worked very well until the last 30 feet where there was a cliff. After poking around, we discovered a steep heather slope on the other side of some dense trees. This took us down far enough so we could traverse directly under the cliff and into the basin of Chetwoot Lake.
Now we had a decision to make. If we went right around the lake, we had a half mile boulder field to cross. If we went left around the lake, we had a half mile of bushwhacking. We had heard that the bushwhack was horrible but Jim and I were experienced bushwhackers and the boulder field looked long and tedious.
The first 30 minutes of traveling around the left side of the lake went very well. Jim was finding lots of little animal trails which avoided some of the brush. Then we hit the steep slope. We had seen from above that this section had virtually no shoreline so we stayed about 50 feet above the lake. This gave us room to move up and down looking for the best bushwhacking route.
Before long we were on an extremely steep hillside full of scrub cedar. All you need to know about scrub cedar is it is on our list of the 10 worse mountain plants in Washington. Accompanying the scrub cedar on the list is stinging nettles, devils club, slide alder, … (add your own horrible adventure here)
After an hour of swearing and going virtually no where, we decided to drop to the shoreline. Maybe we would just walk in the lake. We came out in a spot where the shoreline was actually walkable. We had just a few minutes of delightful walking.
Then the shoreline ended with a steep rock wall. Jim was able to backup and look around the wall to see that there were multiple rock walls. The shoreline was no longer an option.
Jim decided it was time to walk in the lake. He stuck his pole in and found the depth of the lake at the shore was about 4 feet. It was probably deeper near the rock wall. The lake was not an option unless we wanted to swim.
It was in this moment that Jim declared that he was done. Huh? In any climbing group, when the leader declares they are done, it is a cue for someone else to do something. Anything. So I turned toward the rock wall with scrub cedar and pulled myself up and in. If I kept going, Jim would have to follow.
When Jim could no longer see me, he started to follow. Once in the scrub cedar, Jim took a higher route than I did and before long he proclaimed that he could see a meadow ahead. And just like that we popped out of the brush into a beautiful meadow. As we strolled toward the lake outlet, we both agreed that this was the worse bushwhack we had ever done together. Yes, it was that bad.
Chetwoot Lake was so inviting but we had lost over an hour in the bushes and really needed to get a little further along the traverse before we could camp. No swimming for us.
As we neared the outlet stream, we encountered the heavily used trail coming from Big Heart Lake and Lake Angeline. The smart people hike in to Chetwoot Lake from here. We came across several tents camped at the lake good thing we weren’t planning on camping here anyway.
We had hoped to get to Azurite Lake but when we came to Azure Lake we were both completely done. There was running water and still time to clean up before dinner. We both had bloody legs that needed attending to.
Not the prettiest camp but we had flat ground and rocks to sit on.
We woke to hazy skies. Smoke definitely moved in over night but it wasn’t bad. We decided we didn’t have time to visit Azurite Lake if we were going to get all the way to Tank Lakes today. When we come back, we will be taking the trail from Big Heart Lake.
We climbed directly out of the lake basin to the shoulder above. At least we would get a view of Azurite Lake. Just before reaching the shoulder, we looked back and saw Wild Goat Peak. Quite handsome.
The upper shoulder was granite slabs and heather. Yeah!
From the edge of the shoulder, we not only got views of Azurite Lake and Otter Lake but a rather nice view of Angeline Lake.
Azurite Lake looked quite appealing but we would never be visiting Otter Lake. The shoreline looked aweful.
After spending far too much time relaxing on the granite slabs, we headed off to Iron Cap Mountain. We knew there were several boulder fields between us and the summit.
To avoid some of the boulder fields, Jim and I chose to climb a heather island. This was risky because you never know if you can get off the thing when you reach the other end. This time it worked out for us.
From above, Iron Cap Lake was not appealing but when we got to the outlet stream, we found it totally campable.
From the lake, the topo map showed everything with tight line. But when you looked up, you could see granite benches and walls with small heather weaknesses. We easily picked our way up the slope. We quickly reached the elevation where we determined was a good spot to drop our big packs.
From here, it was heather benches with intermittent rocks all the way to the summit. As we were reaching the summit, we saw a solo hiker. Where did he come from?
We quickly took advantage of having a third person and got a summit photo taken.
I couldn’t resist getting a picture of Jim with Bears Breast Mountain. I have seen the mountain several times but from this ridge you could totally see the bear laying on its back.
Chimney Rock and Overcoat Peak were beautiful even through the smoky haze.
We visited with the solo hiker, Andrew. Through our conversation, we realized that he camped above Chetwoot Lake last night. And in determining where to go, he heard us in the bushes and quickly decided not to go that way. Glad our misery helped someone.
Andrew was also heading to Tank Lakes tonight so we shared some beta. Iron Cap Mountain was directly above Iron Cap Pass which was our next destination. We had both hoped to drop straight down to the pass but Andrew had read that there were cliffs down there and that people get in trouble. We opted to go back to the shoulder where our packs were and try to descend it. This was where all our GPS tracks were telling us to go as well.
The descent to below the cliffs wasn’t pretty but it did work. Switchbacking back and forth through dense trees and boulder fields. Somehow I was able to tease out the route. It helps that I move pretty slow. Gives me more time to look around.
Once below the cliffs, we had a long traverse through boulder fields to get back to Iron Cap Pass.
We knew there was a trail to Tank Lakes from Iron Cap Pass so I was pretty excited when we were eye level with the pass.
And even happier when we realized there was only one more steep drop between us and the pass. I was getting tired and was ready to be in camp.
At the pass, we stopped to take a break. Just minutes after sitting down, Andrew came hiking down the ridge. He had taken a different route which turned out to be harder than he thought. It must have been really difficult because Andrew hikes twice as fast as I do. Maybe three times.
We ended up hiking into Tank Lakes together and set up camp next to each other on the slabs near the lake. The view was not outstanding but it was still pretty. For some reason, I never took a picture of camp. I guess it wasn’t as spectacular as last time we were here and I was more interested in cleaning up in the lake.
Here is a picture from our visit to Tank Lakes in 2014.
Before we retreated to our tents for the night, we got news that our weather for tomorrow had deteriorated and we were now expecting light rain in the morning.
In the morning, we were camped in the cloud layer. Jim and I hope this is our last morning in the fog this year. We need time to forget how miserable it is.
The lake was definitely not as inviting as it was the night before.
There were 5 of us descending from Tank Lakes that morning and it took all 5 of us to stay on the trail. In 2014, we descended the snow field which turned into a scree field. As hard as the trail was to follow, it was way better than descending a 1000 feet of scree.
Once on the Necklace Valley trail, Andrew and the other couple took off. I don’t think I ever moved as fast as they were going.
It only rained for a hour or so and then the air was just moist. The lakes were still pretty. Even if they were in a cloud layer.
The sun even made an appearance or two.
Jim and I are not big trail hikers. The miles just go on and on. Luckily there were a few distractions. We encounter a huge root ball.
Then we reached an area of the forest that had been logged back in the day when they used spring boards. Someone has since come in and turned the stumps into faces. I think this one looks like a blow up ghost you might put in your front yard during the holiday season.
The last 2 miles of trail were in great shape. I was even able to jog a little bit. I was so happy to see Jim Aga hiking up the trail. Hopefully that meant that we were close to the trailhead. What it definitely meant was our ride was here and we would be in the car before the skies decided to open up and rain again.
Special Thanks to Jim and Fay! This traverse wouldn’t have happened without you two. The trip had its hardships but in the end was quite rewarding. We are so glad we did it.