On June 15th Person B and I went on an overnight backpack to Pete Lake which lies northeast of Snoqualmie Pass in the Central Cascades, just a mile east of the PCT. We wanted something short and flat and lake-ish so I browsed around on the WTA’s Hike Finder Map until I stumbled across it. At about five miles each way with only 400 feet of elevation gain Pete Lake fit the bill.
Overnight permits for Pete Lake are self-issue at the trailhead and a Northwest Forest Pass or America the Beautiful pass is required for parking. The parking lot is decently sized with room for 20-30 cars and features a vault toilet. There’s also a backcountry toilet northwest of Pete Lake, keep an eye out for a “Privy” sign as you approach the western end of the lake.
The hike follows the Cooper River west although the river remains out of sight almost the entire time. It starts out with that drier eastside forest feeling but quickly transitions into more traditional forest. The trail is well maintained but has several rocky and rooty sections.
I counted ten water crossings along the way but none of them involved actually getting your feet wet. Most were simply rock hopping or walking across some logs.
Campsite
There are larger group campsites at the northeast and northwest corners of the lake with a smattering of individual sites in between. We somehow managed to snag an isolated spot right on the northern shore with incredible views of the lake and Island Mountain (which is more of a hill covered in trees, really).
Gear
LighterPack: https://lighterpack.com/r/wvrda
What worked:
- Since this was a two-person trip I had to dust off the ol’ MSR Hubba Hubba NX instead of the usual Lunar Solo. It’s still a phenomenal tent, quick and easy to pitch, and you never have to worry about hitting your head when you’re sitting up. On the other hand it seemed a bit narrow – I use a 25” wide pad and she uses a 20” wide pad and they were pressing up against the sides of the tent so much that I didn’t even bother unrolling my Gossamer Gear Thinlight.
- It’s best to hang the sliding part of the Vecto first while there’s no weight on it and then attach the actual bladder once you’ve filled it up. You can also use an alpine butterfly loop to shorten the cord if you’re hanging close to the ground.
- Instant Thai Tea is the best hot drink for backpacking I’ve ever had. It requires hot water for the mixing to work properly. I used an ounce of alcohol to bring two cups of water to a boil but that was overkill, it took forever to cool off to the point where I could actually drink it. Next time I’ll just use half an ounce.
What didnt:
- I picked up a pair of non-photochromic non-polarized driving sunglasses after discovering that photochromic lenses don’t work in cars. The drive away from the Pete Lake trailhead starts out eastward so we were getting a ton of glare and reflection on the windshield to the point where it was hard to see. I traded Person B for her polarized lenses and all the glare issues immediately went away. So, I picked up a replacement pair of Tifosi Crits with gray polarized photochromic lenses. The polarization eliminates glare inside the car and it also makes them dark enough where I can still use them for driving on sunny days despite the photochromic feature being inoperative. It also eliminates glare from water, rocks, snow, and sand which has been great since my previous non-polarized Tifosi Seek FCs weren’t dark enough for the beach or other high-glare environments. I would often find myself squinting which to me means that they weren’t doing their job. So, now I have one pair of sunglasses that works in all conditions. Lesson learned: always go polarized.
- Never turn freeze-dried dinners on their side once you’ve added water. I was attempting to show Person B how you could use the Thinlight as a cozy but since the top didn’t seal up all the way a good chunk of my dinner ended up on the ground. All the little dust particles gum up the tracks so it’s best to just keep the bag upright all the time just in case.
- Unfortunately since I left the Thinlight outside the tent a bird pooped on it. That won’t be happening again.
Flowers and Critters
I saw three garter snakes on this trip, which is more snakes than I think I’ve seen on all my previous trips combined. One was swimming along the shore near our campsite, one was sunning itself at the end of a log which was sticking out into the lake, and one was curled up in a little depression in the middle of a marshy field of wildflowers. The last one was red and black but unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough with the camera before it slithered away.
Speaking of not quick enough, we spotted a blacktail dear munching away on some shrubs in the evening and then early the next morning another one was walking down the main trail just a few feet from our tent. Sadly I didn’t manage to snag a picture of either one.
Flowers are less of a challenge, so without further ado:
Photography
Gallery: https://turigrinos.smugmug.com/Adventures/2019/Pete-Lake/n-6cMjFZ
I don’t do much moonlight photography and the stuff I have done hasn’t really turned out all that well. I think the problem is you always need to do two exposures, one for the moon and one for everything else. Otherwise the moon is so bright compared to the landscape that it just washes out into a big ball of white. This (single exposure) shot turned out okay-ish but it certainly isn’t anything special.
While we were scouring the shore for a campsite we stopped for lunch on a little bluff overlooking the lake. This was the first (and only) time we were able to get a look at the Cascades. Unfortunately I didn’t want to bother with jumping down and heading out to the tip of this little piece of dirt so I had to settle for a sub-par shot. In hindsight this was a mistake, but I’ll be heading back to Pete Lake to do some PCT work in a month or so so I’ll have a chance to redeem myself.
As far as other photographic opportunities, the sun rises behind some nearby hills so sunrises are a bust and I believe sunsets are as well due to the proximity of the mountains (we certainly didn’t get anything interesting). The other problem is that the trail skirts the northern shore of the lake and not the south (probably due to all the cliffs) which means that views of the mountains to the northwest are almost impossible to obtain.
However, this shot of the early morning mist on the lake from our campsite (which I also put at the top of the post) is just incredible. The sun was rising at such an angle that I had to put my left hand out to block it in order to keep the glare off the lens.
Almost all of the shots here are hand-held HDR with +/- 2 stops of bracketed exposures which I then merge together using Aurora HDR. This has drastically improved the quality of my outdoor photos since it helps to bring out details in the shadows and the sky.