Source Lake and Snow Lake

The Source Lake from above

 Sunday,, July 24, 2011

Distance: 5 Miles Round trip

Cummulative Elevation Gain: 1500 ft

The weather was nice. Yet because of the late onset of summer this year, the snow has not melted at most of the usual destinations. Even at the Snoqualmie Pass area, a lot of snow was reported by other hikers earlier in the week. My friend Mrinal accompanied me on this hike. Mrinal has not hiked on snow before. As a safety precaution, we decided to hike the snow lake trail, which is a popular one with a lot other people around, at the same time, not too far off for a Sunday hike (Can not get too tired - got to get back to work tomorrow :-)). Another great reason to hike these areas now is the blooming wild flowers.

Beautiful mountainside and the trail

We were at the trail head at around 10.30 am. The very large parking area was about half full. There was a forest ranger hiking alongside and answering questions about trail conditions out in the wild. We learned from her  that the the north facing trail section that descends down to the Snow Lake beyond the saddle at 2.1 miles and 4400 ft elevation was still snow covered and almost un-surpassable using fair weather hiking gears only. So at the fork after 1.5 miles and 3700 ft elevation, we went on to explore the Source Lake view point. The trail actually runs much higher on the north flank of the mountain side of the valley. It is the Source Lake where the South Fork of the Snoqualmie river originates and after flowing over a few miles joins with the Middle and the North Forks near North Bend city. 

Magnificent wild flowers blooming

Part of the trail length leading to the Source Lake view point was snow covered. My fried was excited at the opportunity to walk on the snow. We were careful not to miss a step or put in a misstep. We saw two pairs of foot trails out on the snow covered southern flank of the stream and wondering if any hikers went hiking off trails. Then at the view point we met two women who were apparently lost and made those foot prints looking for a way to the snow lake. I told them about the fork about half mile back before settling down there to eat our snack and head back a little later.

  

Mrinal and I with Snow Lake In the backgrond

 Back at the fork, we now made it towards the Snow Lake. This trail segment was totally covered with snow. There were a lot of people out there. But most of them hung around at the ridge at 4400 ft. There was great view of the Lake down below providing some beautiful picture opportunities. However,  the trail beyond seemed to be buried in at least kneed deep snow just like we learned earlier from the forest ranger. So Mrinal and I agreed that this was our final destination and turned around for the trail head.

Hikers enjoying views of Snow Lake and beyond