Lake
22
5-31-24
Xfinity
emailed me a week earlier to say that my Internet would be down the
next Friday for major upgrade work. I am out of work without it. I
decided to take of Friday and go hiking. Gary was free and a few days
before John joined in. We have been doing long drives for
great wildflower hikes. We felt it was time for a closer in trip. After
a discussion we settled on a two hike day. First Lake 22 and then
Heather Lake. The two trailheads are just a few miles about. The lakes
are on opposite sides or a ridge. They are short hikes on rocky trails.
Last weekend we did a 17 mile hike with 3700' of gain. This trip would
be lesser in both areas but hard on the knees when descending. We had
to deal with Seattle area traffic and chose to meet at Ash Way
P&R at 7:00 am. Hopefully early enough to avoid the worst
traffic. I picked up Gary and we arrived a little before John. I was
very surprised to see the lot barely half full. We headed north and
then east to almost Granite Falls and the Mountain Loop Highway. It was
clear with the temperature in the high 40s when we arrived. The lot is
full early on weekends but we found it more than half empty at 8:15 am.
By 8:22 we were on our way.
I had done this trip 27 times before today. I had not done it since
2019. The crowds are just hard to handle. Having a Friday off was
really nice. We set off at a good pace as we needed to warm up. The
trail is rocky and after recent rains it was very wet. I took high top
waterproof boots and had not problems. We saw a few wildflowers early
and more higher up. It was not a great wildflower hike but not a bust
either. We stopped on the bridge over Twenty-Two Creek for photos of
the creek. Lots of whitewater. After that the trail starts climbing.
The big trees are really big. That is one of the highlights of the
trip. Gary has done the hike fairly recently but it was a first for
John. That was also true of the second trip of the day, to Heather
Lake. I remember when there were just a few turnpikes. Now there are
more steps than I recall from 2019. They are probably needed for all
the boots that hike the trail each week. We found a few trees down that
should be cut out soon.
At the switchback for the twin falls we went over for a look. There was
plenty of water coming over the falls. It made for good photos. After
than we headed out into the open rock field. The direct sunshine made
it feel pretty warm. We were already seeing hikers coming down. We went
back and forth up the two sets of switchbacks. The higher we ascended,
the better the views to the north. Three Fingers and other snowy peaks
were in sight. By the last switchback we could see the top of Glacier
Peak and Mt. Dickerman. I did not realize that until using an app to
point them out. I was ready to go back into the shad. The upper trail
had water running across and down it. The trail seemed rockier than I
recalled. Coming down the rock steps were felt by my knees. There was
no snow left at all. Often it hangs on in the last section above the
outlet creek. We arrived at the lake at 10:07 am. The backdrop looked
great as usual in the spring. We could see snow and some very long
waterfalls coming down the steep wall. We soon headed around the lake
clockwise.
Going to the left put us in shade. The rest of the lake was entirely in
sunshine. So far, we had seen yellow violets, a few trillium, some
spring beauty, and a good display of bleeding hearts. I mentioned early
in the hike that I had not seen any marsh marigolds yet this year. The
snow soon began. There were some long mash marigolds and some very
large patches of them. A very good display overall. We started on
boardwalks then onto dirt and blasted rock trail. Near the end of the
lake we went back onto boardwalks. Much of the far end of the lake is
marshy in the spring. Part way along we found some big almost flat
rocks just off the trail. That proved to be an excellent place for a
brunch break. We arrived at 10:28 am. Snow was piled up at the base of
the wall behind the lake. There were only a few small patches where the
trail goes through. Our brunch break turned into a long "just lay in
the sunshine" break. It was not hot in the sunshine but not cool
either. It was just about perfect.
Our break lasted until Gary finally decided it was time to get moving.
A few minutes later I left at 11:15 am. 47 minutes is a nice long
break. Reflections in the lake and the big boulders along the trail
were interesting photo subjects. We could see over the outlet and
across the valley to the north. As we moved along Three Fingers
Mountain came into view. With my old phone camera it would be a tiny
blot of white. With the new 10x zoom I could almost make out the
lookout on top. Continuing around the lake we found some big patches of
yellow violets and some salmonberry flowers. We made it back into shady
forest before finishing our loop around the lake. At 11:46 am we
started down. We did not see many hikers going around the lake but did
see several groups heading down around the time we left. Before long we
started seeing more parties coming up. We would see a steady stream of
other hikers though not even close to the weekend crowds that are
normal.
We had all the streams crossing and running down the trail once again.
We also had all the steps in the boulder field and even more man-made
ones on the way down. It was more of a knee cruncher than I recalled.
The trail definitely had even more steps than I recalled. The big trees
were fun to see again as we came down. We chose not to stop at the twin
falls again. We reached the trailhead at 1:25 pm. The lot had only a
couple of open parking spaces from hikers who left just before us. We
had decided on one of two second hikes. Heather Lake if we felt good
and the Old Robe Trail down to the old RR Grade in the SF Stillaguamish
Canyon if we felt less good. The latter trail is much easier.
Though our knees were feeling all the rocks and big steps on the Lake
22 Trail we chose hike to Heather Lake.
![001](001_Small.jpg)
Getting Started
|
![006](006_Small.jpg)
Twenty Two Creek
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![010](010_Small.jpg)
Big Trees
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![012](012_Small.jpg)
Many Steps
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![013](013_Small.jpg)
Logs On Trail
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![015](015_Small.jpg)
Bigger Tree On Trail
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![016](016_Small.jpg)
Bunchberry
|
![019](019_Small.jpg)
More Steps
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![022](022_Small.jpg)
A Big Cedar Tree
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![023](023_Small.jpg)
Twin Falls
|
![026](026_Small.jpg)
Portrait View
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![032](032_Small.jpg)
John & Big Cedars
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![033](033_Small.jpg)
Bleeding Hearts
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![034](034_Small.jpg)
Spring Beauty
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![035](035_Small.jpg)
Liberty Mountain
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![038](038_Small.jpg)
Ascending Talus Field
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![042](042_Small.jpg)
Top of Three Fingers
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![046](046_Small.jpg)
Shade In Trees
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![049](049_Small.jpg)
Last Switchback
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![051](051_Small.jpg)
First Marsh Marigold
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![057](057_Small.jpg)
Skunk Cabbage
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![060](060_Small.jpg)
Trillium
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![067](067_Small.jpg)
At Lake 22
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![077](077_Small.jpg)
Boardwalk Around Lake
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![078](078_Small.jpg)
Wall Of Mt. Pilchuck
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![085](085_Small.jpg)
Peak Marsh Marigold
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![087](087_Small.jpg)
Big Waterfall
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![089](089_Small.jpg)
At Back Of Lake
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![092](092_Small.jpg)
Looking To Outlet
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![093](093_Small.jpg)
On The Boardwalk |
![094](094_Small.jpg)
Break Time |
![103](103_Small.jpg)
Snowfield
|
![105](105_Small.jpg)
Snow Alongside Trail
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![107](107_Small.jpg)
Snowy Ridge
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![113](113_Small.jpg)
Rocky Shore
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![117](117_Small.jpg)
Three Fingers Over Lake
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![122](122_Small.jpg)
Three Fingers Zoomed In
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![123](123_Small.jpg)
John & Gary On Trail |
![127](127_Small.jpg)
Gary At Work
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![130](130_Small.jpg)
Yellow Violets
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![132](132_Small.jpg)
Salmonberry
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![136](136_Small.jpg)
Back Near Outlet
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![142](142_Small.jpg)
Glacier Peak
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![144](144_Small.jpg)
Unfurling Ferns
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![149](149_Small.jpg)
Another Big Cedar
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![160](160_Small.jpg)
Trail Is A Creek
|
![162](162_Small.jpg)
John At Work
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![164](164_Small.jpg)
Final Boardwalk
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Click on thumbnails to get
larger pictures.
Trips
- 2024
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