Trip Details:
|
Arrive Parking lot |
02:51PM |
|
Start hiking |
03:08PM |
|
Iron Horse Trail crossing |
03:31PM |
|
Start rolling section |
04:23PM |
|
Lake |
04:42PM |
|
Leave Lake |
04:50PM |
|
Eat stop on return (avoid rain) |
05:21PM |
|
Leave eat stop |
05:27PM |
|
Cross Iron Horse |
05:57PM |
|
Car |
06:19PM |
|
Snow |
One little (I emphasize little) patch just before lake. Easily avoided if you care. |
|
Bugs |
Some as you neared lake. Rain probably kept down. Didn't sit around to find out. People returning down commented that the bugs were bad at the lake. |
|
Weather |
Hot but cloudy. Rain started about 1/2 mile from lake. Steady by lake time. Quit on way down once I got about a mile away from the lake. Tree canopy sheltered rain a lot on hike when it was raining. |
| Crowds | Saw maybe 4 parties of 1 or two coming down as I was going up. Saw one guy going up as I was going down. |
| Scenic Value | A few views out to the west ridge of Humpback mountain on way up, especially from the many avalanche chutes. The lake is bounded on all sides. Views of lake and surrounding ridges west and south. East is blocked by trees/hill. North is back up the valley you came from and is woods. |
| Difficulty | Other than the elevation gain giving a decent workout. Not problems. I will comment though that you do cross a lot of avalanche type of chutes/areas and if these are icy it could be more interesting. All snow free now though. |
Route map:
Narrative:
Ok looking for something that wasn't a peak and that I hadn't done for a while that was close in. Annette Lake it was. I did this peak 20 something years ago. The first time I tried it in June and found the avalance chutes too icy and it turned me back. Not so this time. Hit the trail a bit after 3PM in warm/muggy but cloudy weather.
Shortly you reach a nice bridge over a cool creek/waterfall.
Crossing a couple of sets of power lines you get a few rare early views.
After just under a mile cross the Iron Horse trail and head back into the woods as the way steepens a bit but is not too bad. You will get a workout.
The grade is pretty constant from here for about the next 1.88 miles. You get various views only when you cross the more open avalanche areas.
After the trail levels (becomes rolling up and down) you have about .7 miles to the lake. First reaching a toilet sign and one little patch of snow left just before the lake.
Reaching the lake it was now raining pretty steady so I snapped a few and headed back down.
The rain finally quite when I got about a mile down from the lake. A few parting shots and back to the car none worse for the rain/wear.
Few more shots before summit.
Not the most exciting hike, but a few nice views and you can get some decent exercise without going to a peak. The lake is pretty as well. Had the weather been better I would have parked it for a while to enjoy the lake more.
Last Updated 08/07/2008