A Quick Escape to Snow Lake

Summer is the reason people live in the Northwest. They brave the grey skies and winter for the extended 14 hour days of sun in the most anticipated season of the year. I heard it often when I first moved to Seattle, "just wait for summer." I wasn't about to hold my breath until June so I learned to love (or at least live contently) through the less inspirational months and patiently watch as the seasons pass.

But Summer has arrived and I've made it a personal goal to spend as many weekends outdoors and hiking new trails. A few weeks back, we were on a time crunch with only a few hours to get a hike in. For a split second, I thought maybe it was too much effort, trying to squeeze too many plans into the day. I quickly dismissed the irrational thought and researched a quick hike near the city we could enjoy.

Snow Lake became the destination despite holding the title of most visited lake in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. I typically gravitate towards longer, less populated trails where I feel the solitude and precious pulse of the environment. Snow Lake was the complete opposite. We shared the trail with hundreds of humans and dozens of dogs. I had a brief moment of silly frustration over the congested trail and then recognized I needed to jump off my high horse quick. Of course everyone else was going to be hiking to a lake on a gorgeous 80 degree PNW day. Did I really expect anything less? The situation was perfect as is. We should all be outside and enjoying the mountains. And everyone we passed were so nice and obviously elated to be outdoors. Here are some details for the trek... given you aren't one of thousands of people who have already hiked it. Hope you're getting outdoors this weekend! If you have any favorite Northwest hikes share them in the comments!