Rachel Lake

Rachel Lake has to be one of the most beautiful lakes in the Northwest.  Either that, or fatigue was causing me to hallucinate the lake's virtues yesterday, as my friend Pat M. and I sat on a rocky plateau a few feet above lake level, eating lunch and taking in the view of the lake and the surrounding mountains.

The turn-off to the lake is on the east side of Snoqualmie Pass, not far beyond the Hyak ski area.  There's a bit of a drive in from the I-90 Kachess Lake exit, first on paved road and then on well-maintained gravel.  Once on gravel, there's a rather odd intersection with a number of Forest Service signs, none of which indicate the proper direction -- take the road to the right, which leads to the trailhead and a parking lot.

The trail is pleasant for some distance.  Pat and I naively remarked on how more trails should be so easy to hike.  And then it began -- long rocky patches, often steep, which made footing tricky.  When the trail wasn't rocky, it was often a mass of tree roots which had to be maneuvered through -- often threatening to grab your foot, especially as you were coming back down. 

On-line articles describe the trail as "heavily-trafficked," but on this first day of September we encountered only two other parties going up, and a few more coming back down.  Hikers may be hiked out by now, and are already looking forward to skiing.

I can offer no real advice on negotiating the difficulties of the trail, except to urge you to persevere.  The lake is large, a deep blue, and is surrounded by impressive peaks.  In most part of the country, you'd expect to hear the whine of motor boats, but Rachel Lake is well within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area (self-register at the beginning of the trail).  It's definitely doable as a day hike, but we saw at least one tent on the lakeshore.  

Another mile up the trail leads to Ramparts Lake, which would be fun if you still had the energy.  A good reason to camp at the lake, if you have the time.  The lake is  large enough to make a circumnavigation an interesting possibility, although the opposite shore, in places, presents a rocky cliff leading right down to lake level.  Some high level hiking would be required to work around those cliff areas.

The round trip to Rachel Lake is 8.2 miles.  The elevation gain is only about 1,600 feet, but it took us three hours to climb up, and 2 hours, 50 minutes to hike back down.  Those times reflect the difficulty and roughness of much of the trail.

But you finish the hike not only with good pictures imprinted on both your camera  and your brain, but a sense of exhausted accomplishment.