My goal today was to find the Lake Marten trail. I had a good general idea where it is. I had sent a link to a trip report to Derek to suggest it for us to check out. But this is another unofficial trail and not necessarily easy to find.
I haven’t hiked for a few days because it has been in the 100’s – like, 110 degrees. Not good weather to hike. So I left the house this morning just after 4 am. I was heading out from the car at 5:30. Nice and cool.
I parked at the Middle Fork parking lot. Parking here adds 2 miles round trip to the hike (a mile to the Snoqualmie Lake trail head) and it avoids having to drive over/around some very nasty potholes. Anyway, it is a wonderful mile. The first .5 mile is on a connector trail and the 2nd growth forest is beautiful:
After you get onto the Sno Lake Trail you are close to the Taylor River. This section of the river, at this time of the year, is exciting. It is white water and very loud – loud in a great way:
I did finally find the Marten Lake trail, 3.7 miles from the car. I went a couple of hundred yards up the trail just to see how it is and it is a doozy:
Now, when Derek and I plan this hike, I will know where to go. I did not feel comfortable doing this trail alone. It is very rough and very steep but it ends at a marvelous sub-alpine lake (in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, no less) and I am looking forward to giving it a try.
Hike was just under 8 miles. Here is the track:
