The Lake TwentyTwo trail in Washington is by far one of my top 5 hiking trails. Located in the Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest just north of the Mt. Pilchuck trail, the trail passes by waterfalls, rivers, and concludes with the lake itself. It's a fairly easy hike with a roundtrip distance of 5.4 miles, which includes lush forests, large cedars, well maintained trails, wooden boardwalks, bridges, ice caves, and more. It was hard not to stop every 2 minutes to take a picture (in fact, I probably did on the way to its summit). Once reaching the summit, you're blown away by the beauty of the lake engulfed by walls of rocky mountains. Looking north, you can see snow capped mountains (I believe it's Green Mountain and the South Fork Stilly Valley according to
WTA). I wish we had brought lunch with us as the lake is a perfect place to soak in the landscape's beauty for at least an hour. Since we visited in October, we were able to circumnavigate the lake trail as the threat of avalanches was zero. Still, you could see the remnants of snow from last season as waterfalls slid down the rocky wall and ice caves remained in place. The only thing that might make this trail the best is a tea house (like the ones in Canada, specifically
Lake Agnes). If you visit the Seattle-Tacoma area, this trail is a MUST.
The following pictures are in no particular order and mostly shot on film (Nikon F100, Nikon D600).
Right after my tripod broke so I had to use a rock...
Email: samanthabrookephoto@gmail.com
