Margaret Lake - Take Two

 

First trip to Margaret Lake Here

So we decided to try our luck at Margaret lake again with hope that most if not all of the snow would be melted. We got a nice typical mid afternoon heat of the day start to our hike. The trail was much easier to follow sans snow, and much greener too with the wildflowers finally starting to bloom.

Well that looks a little familiar

We were able to follow the trail and were pretty surprised by how far off trail we had previously been, and happily surprised when we entered into the wooded area. There were points that were semi hard to follow but someone had gone through and marked the trees with some duct tape that let us know we were still on track.

I started getting blisters on the back of my heels (stupid shoes - but I didn't know if we would encounter snow or not) so I took them off and hiked the wooded area bare. The ground was surprisingly cool and very refreshing to the mid-day heat. At some point I hit my arch on a rock (even after I couldn't see it) and got a small bruise but no big deal. We started encountering some snow so I put on my huaraches but as the snow started getting more dense so back on went the shoes. 

We made the switchback descent down to the lake and by the time we got close there was nothing but snow.

The lake was crystal clear but with no where to sit and eat our lunch because of the snow we headed back up the trail to a clearing where it split off into two separate trails (the second goes to Lake Lillian). When we got there we encountered two barefooters! We chatted momentarily and let them know there was a substantial amount of snow on the trail, sat and ate our lunch before heading back down the trail.

All in all, I don''t think we'll be doing this trail again.

Margaret Lake - Sort of

On Saturday we decided to go for a hike. We have the book Day Hiking:Snoqualmie Region that we keep in our car, so when we decide to go for a hike we flip it open to a page and where ever we land on we go. This led us on a hike of Margaret Lake.

Now the book says that this is a hike to do from June - September but I have to disagree with them.

The dirt road leading up to the trail head was very poorly maintained with huge pot holes littering the way. We were originally going to hike a different trail that was slightly further up the road, but had to turn around because the road was blocked by a few feet of snow still.

We made our way to the trail head after walking a ways down a rocky service road. As we continued hiking the narrow trail we started to come upon parts that were covered in snow. The snow was melting, since it was 70 degrees out, and at certain points you could tell there was nothing underneath supporting the snow sheet.

At some points the snow was several feet deep still, and since there trail was basically just the water drain off ditch we lost the actual trail under the snow and ended up following others footsteps hoping they knew where they were going....

Turned out, they didn't.....

We ended at a steep incline filled with rotting tree trunks. We debated what to do. There was a summit up at the top, though we were sure this was no longer the trail, we came all this way already, we wanted to get to the top of something. So we climbed, quite literally - holding onto protruding rocks, stumps and anything else we could get our hands on.

Did I mention that our friend came along with us, who just had surgery on his wrist a few weeks ago?

And don't forget the two year old tagging along in the Ergo.

At the top was a beautiful view of the neighboring mountains and a lake below.

We never made it to Margaret Lake - even though we think we found where the trail was supposed to go after we slide/walked down the slope we were ready to call it a day.

Maybe we'll go back to Margaret Lake at the end of summer - the lake is supposed to be beautiful with camping along it's edge.