After a month of dealing with torn apart bathrooms I finally got to get out into the wilderness again! Taking my son James for our end-of-the-summer overnight camping trip, I picked Summit lake in the shadow of Mt Rainer. The past two hikes had been into the Alpine lakes area and I thought it would be fun to get James close to Mt Rainer.

We couldn't have picked a better day to go. The day came clear and sunny, temps in the upper 70s to low eighties. We made good time down to the trailhead and were ready to hike by 9:30 AM. A word of warning to small vehicle owners - the forest service road is pretty rough, six miles of washboard travel and a couple big ruts designed to take out an oil pan. Not to mention one spot where the road looks ready to fall off the side of the hill. I was glad to have my truck!

The hike itself is pretty easy, although I was glad I hadn't picked a more strenous hike since it had been over a month since our last hike. Under three miles gets you to the lake and around 1,000 ft of elevation gain. It took us about 1.5 hrs of easy-going pace. The hike has a few switch-backs and a couple long steady climbs. Not too many rocks. The flowers are blooming and the blueberries are just starting to show.

The lake is gorgeous, crystal clear blue, with three-quarters of the shoreline available for walking/fishing. Most spots the lake is shallow and drops off gradually. The far shore is steep and cliff-faced and not accessable by walking. This would be a good lake to hike in a float tube for day fishing. The campsites are in good shape and offer views of Mt Rainer, depending on which spots you pick. And NOT to be missed is the add on hike to the far cliffs over-looking the lake. An easy quarter mile and 300 ft elevation gain gives you a birds-eye view of the lake and Mt Rainer. We felt like we were on top of the earth! James really enjoyed the view from the top. If you go this lake DO NOT skip this part of the hike!

OK, fishing. In a word - wow! I noted immediately that there were fish rising everywhere, and pretty quickly determined that they were quite picky. The wooleybuggers gave zero interest, and the Fish Creek Spinners, while catching a few fish, were not the ticket. But dry flies - man, these fish jumped all over them! It didn't even matter that I only had one with me and that it was eventually torn to shreads. If the fly floated, the fish would aggresively attack it. If the fly sunk under the water even an inch, theer was no interest. Heck, I had as many hits on my clear casting bobber as I did the fly! I must have caught a couple dozen brook trout in the afternoon (when I least expected to catch fish). They were everywhere along the shoreline and cruising lazily by me. The only downside was this lake seemingly is overrun with tiny fish. Everything I caught was in the 5-8" range, and a lot of skinny fish. Nothing of any great size could I find. The other thing that was of great interest to me was that later, after dinner, I went out and fished and had zero luck. The fish were pretty much done rising and nothing seemed to interest them, including spinners. And it was the same way in the morning. No hatch on the water and no fish biting. So lesson learned - I will add MORE dry flies to my tackle box for Alpine lake fishing, and I will be less worried about time of day fishing.

James and I hiked out the next morning under cloudy skies as a new front came in, beating the rain by a half hour - good timing. We had a great final overnight before school starts. James says this was his favorite of our three hikes this year. I would recommend Summit lake as an easy hike and destination. It's actually outside Mt Rainer park, so you only need your forest service parking permit. Also, expect to share the lake. We had it all to ourselves until 3pm when a group of six teens arrived for what must have been their end of the summer trip. They were kinda loud but thankfully quieted down in the evening. Come up early in the day to get the best camping sites, in my opinion the far side of the lake which has the Mt Rainer view. And be prepared to catch a LOT of little trout!

Final hiking stats: Hiked on Wednesday/Thursday Aug 25-26, 2010, distance hiked: 8.17 miles, elevation gain 1355 feet (includes distance to overview), maximum elevation 5,733 ft. 

From Enumclaw drive west on State Route 410 (Chinook Pass Highway) to SR 165. Proceed on SR 165 to the Carbon River Road/Mowich Lake Highway junction. Turn left onto Carbon River Road and follow it to Cayada Creek Road (Forest Road 7810), just before the national park entrance. Turn left (north) and drive about 6.8 miles to the trailhead at the end of FS road 7810.

Our campsite view:



Views from ridge overlooking the lake:





A typical brook trout:

My son James and I headed out on our second overnight hiking trip of the year. Seems he survived the grueling hike to Copper Lake and was ready for more. I picked a less strenous hike (for both of us!) so we could enjoy the destination a little more. Goat lake is a popular Alpine Lake in the shadow of beautiful snow and glacier capped Foggy Peak Mt. (elevation 6772 ft).

The hike starts with an early decision - go right and take the lower Elliot trail that travels along Elliot Creek, or go left and take an old logging road with steady, gradual ascent. The two trails connect back up about a mile before the lake. The upper trail is I believe a bit longer. The lower trail is a tradional hiking trail. We opted to go up on the lower trail and come back down on the upper, which seemed like a good choice.

The first part of the trail is through lumbered areas, but eventually we hit some old growth. But the highlight of the trail is definatelty McIntosh Falls, as it descends from Goat lake. Big, loud, and impressive - and right there at your feet, so watch your step.

The campsites are all located on the north end of the lake, right near those falls. You can only camp in this established area, and on a weekend I'm sure it fills up. But for us on a Sunday night we only had one other group to share it with. We set up camp after about a 2 hour hike, had lunch, and then walked the east shore 2/3rds of the way to the south end of the lake. The last 1/3 of this walk is through scrub brush and is kinda miserable. But the payoff is a very nice waterfalls and spots to sit and fish from, right at the base of the falls. The fishing in this location was quite good - much better than the other end by the camp sites. I consistantly caught 7-10" eastern brook trout on Fish Creek Spinners. Wooley Buggers hardly interested them. I would cast out, do a 10 second count down, and start reeling. I had several fish hit on the flutter drop. The view on this end of the lake of Foggy Mnt and it's glacier is beautiful. We hung out until 5 or so and went back to camp, made dinner, and enjoyed our peace and seclusion.

The next morning came in with low cloud cover and some light misty/rain. We broke camp and made it back to the car in under two hours, but it did seem like a longer hike. Even saw a bit of wildlife. A grouse (I think?) and then a little later an owl in a tree watching us as we walked by. Glad to be back to the truck by 11ish, we were home by 1pm.

Another great hike, pictures, and memories!

Stats from the GPS: 14.3 miles total hiked, total ascent 1393 ft, max elevation 3125 ft.

From Granite Falls, drive the Mountain Loop Highway east from Verlot to Barlow Pass. At 3.5 miles past Barlow, turn right onto Elliot Creek Road #4080. Drive the road .8 miles to its end. From Darrington, drive the Mountain Loop Highway 19.5 miles and take a left turn on FR 4080. Northwest Forest Pass required.

View looking south



James Whittling...



while dad fishes...



under the waterfall.



And back to our temporary home.

Lake Serene Hike 7-9-2010

I hiked the lake Serene trail today, having heard so many great (and scary) things about this lake. The great would be a spectacular alpine lake with amazing views, close to home. The not so great – a killer hike with steep switch-backs designed to totally wear a hiker down.  Happy to say, the great far outweighed the not so great (which wasn’t that bad).

This lake’s trail had been closed for many years until the Forest Service re-built the trail making it safer and more hiker-friendly. The trail is indeed very steep – and longer than advertised. The sign at the trailhead said “3.6 miles, strenuous hike”, but my round trip GPS came in at 9.6 miles. Elevation gain was 2,083 ft to a maximum elevation of 3,597 ft. It took me about 2.0 hrs in and 1 hr out.  I am continuing to be surprised at the discrepancy between the guide book numbers and my GPS unit. There are a LOT of switchbacks, 23 is the number I’ve seen. And a LOT of stairs! They could call this hike “the stairway to heaven”. And heaven would be a good description to use. As I rounded the last switchback and got my view of Mt Index up close, and then actually reached the lake, I was in silent awe. My first impressions were of being in a cathedral and it being a sacred place. The quiet and beauty were amazing. Of course, I did start the hike at 7am so it was just me for about – 15 minutes. Even on a weekday this is a hugely popular hike. There were probably 20 or so groups that I saw today.

I wasn’t sure if there were fish in this lake. I was unable to find any information other than an elevation listing in my Washington State Fishing Guide, but that was good enough to bring my gear with me. I was not disappointed as I quickly observed fishing dimpling the surface. I cast a Fish Creek Spinner out and got an immediate bump, but no hook up. Several fish followed, but each cast less and less did. I switched to a Montana nymph and had an immediate hook up and lost fish, and then the same, nothing. I worked around a boulder field to the far side of the lake and found what I was looking for – deep water close in with large boulders and downed trees for cover. I switched to a green/black wooley bugger and immediately started catching fish. Typical Alpine Lake 6-10”, kinda skinny, but still a lot of fun to being catching fish! I will be honest and admit to poor fish ID skills for these Alpine Lake fish. You tell me from the pictures. I think they are rainbow. I looked and found no red slash marks under the gills.  Amazing colors and they are beautiful fish. I caught 3-4 and lost several others.

Time for lunch and then a steady descent back to the parking lot which now had 10-15 vehicles in it. I’m told on a weekend the overflow goes to a lower lot and beyond, so be warned. If you have the opportunity to visit this lake on a weekday – GO! You will not regret the effort because the payoff is well worth it.

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