Annette Lake

May. 14, 2006
1:15-4:15 --- 4:30-7:15
Without snow, 7 miles rt and 1900ft gain

There were too much snow on our recent Mt. Pilchuck hike. We decided to go on trails along highway 90 this time. We had been to Annette Lake last year and knew it is not that hard.

The hiking starts easy. There was a beatiful bridge not far away from trail head. Beneath the bridge, snow melt water flows down rapidly.
After about one and half hour, snow begins to cover the trail. Unlike the clean and deep snow on Mt. Pilchuck trail, there are too much small conifer and dirt on top of the melting snow on this trail. Walking further up, snow becomes deeper and deeper.

We encountered many hikers deading down. Most of them did not finish the trail. Those few who did are very encouraging by telling us how great the the view up there is. We followed people's footprints and move forward. There wasn't much climing up. There were several very steep and dangerous slopes we had to cross horizontally. Views of the nearby peaks were great.
After three hours, we finally reached the lake. Most of the lake surface was still frozen. Since it is quite late, we only stayed there for about 15 minutes enjoying the quiteness.
Hiking down took us about the same amount of time.

It's a good exercise. We are glad that we reached the lake.