Difficulty: Moderate
5 miles round trip
Northwest Service Pass Required
Northwest Service Pass Required
One of the best things about this hike is the payoff of the Lake at the end. It is so beautiful that you can stay all day swimming, and relaxing by the shore. When we got there it was so inviting that we had to take a swim, even though we didn't bring suits. Hey, shorts dry! It was worth it. Carpe Diem!!
Directions: Drive State Highway 410 until you get to Buckley. You will come to a complicated intersection at the southeast corner. Turn south onto State Highway 162 toward Wilkenson. After about 2 miles this road will T. Turn left onto State Highway 165. You will follow this road for about 8.5 miles, past Wilkenson, Carbonado adn a one-lane bridge over the Carbon River. The road will come to a Y-intersection, stay left on teh Carbon River Road (the right branch goes uphill towards Mowich Lake) Just before the Carbon River entrance to Mt. Rainier National Park, turn left and head over a bridge crossing the river once more. Stay on this road unitl it's end in about 6.5 miles at the trailhead.
This hike starts out slightly steep for only a few minutes and then tapers out. It is still a gradual uphill climb almost all of the way to the lake, but hey, that makes coming back so much nicer - all downhill. One downfall - a ton of bugs unless you wait until later in August to go, but so worth it we forgot about the bugs when we jumped into the lake.
There is camping allowed here if you would like to backpack in, but as usual, fires are not allowed at the lake.
Update: July 13, 2014
This is a very different hike in the early summer than it is in the Late summer. This is one of our favorite hikes. It is so beautiful, and on a hot day it is super refreshing to hop in the lake to cool off - super cold, but refreshing. We did get a bit of a surprise however this year. We don't usually head up to Summit Lake this early in the year because we like it to be nice and hot when we go, and living in the PNW, that usually isn't until well into August. This year has gotten an early start and we have been having weather in the 80's and 90's for weeks now, so we decided to head on up for a swim. Well, duh! Seasons in the mountains are very different than down below, and we just weren't thinking. Yup, we ended up playing in the snow to cool down instead. It's all good though - we still had a blast!
Once you get to the lake, there is a trail that travels the circumference and I highly recommend doing this. If you take the trail clockwise, it goes up quite quickly to the top of the peak where you will get some amazing views of Rainier to the left and on a clear day Bellevue and Seattle to the right. There are also some great views of the lake up here as well. The climb down is much more gradual if you continue in a clockwise direction.
Update: July 13, 2014
This is a very different hike in the early summer than it is in the Late summer. This is one of our favorite hikes. It is so beautiful, and on a hot day it is super refreshing to hop in the lake to cool off - super cold, but refreshing. We did get a bit of a surprise however this year. We don't usually head up to Summit Lake this early in the year because we like it to be nice and hot when we go, and living in the PNW, that usually isn't until well into August. This year has gotten an early start and we have been having weather in the 80's and 90's for weeks now, so we decided to head on up for a swim. Well, duh! Seasons in the mountains are very different than down below, and we just weren't thinking. Yup, we ended up playing in the snow to cool down instead. It's all good though - we still had a blast!
Once you get to the lake, there is a trail that travels the circumference and I highly recommend doing this. If you take the trail clockwise, it goes up quite quickly to the top of the peak where you will get some amazing views of Rainier to the left and on a clear day Bellevue and Seattle to the right. There are also some great views of the lake up here as well. The climb down is much more gradual if you continue in a clockwise direction.
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