In case you didn’t know, we are training for the Wonderland Trail.
What is the Wonderland Trail you ask? That is a totally legit question. I only came to understand this magical thing called the Wonderland Trail a few years back. To put it short, it’s a 90 some-mile trail that circumnavigates Mt. Rainier. Apparently it’s amazing. I believe it because,
A. I’ve been to Rainier a few times and every time I am literally in awe of the mountain and its beauty, and
B. It’s become so popular there is a lottery permit system in place. People fly in from out of state just to do this hike. It’s a thing.
I put in for said lottery this year ……. first time ……. and …… somehow I got a permit. With a really good time slot to boot. Some of you are shaking your heads. I know. I got incredibly lucky. I get goosebumps just writing this. For reference, would you like to know how many times I’ve put in for the Enchantments lottery and come up empty handed? FIVE. Yes, five. I checked this on recreation.gov. Apparently they keep track of your tried and win/fail attempts. SO THIS IS AMAZING. First time no warm up.
But this blog post is not about the Wonderland Trail. It’s about Marten and Snoqualmie Lakes, a little juant we took to help us prepare. This trip was not only to train but to test our gear. Had some new tents we needed to try out and just needed to make sure our packing skills are back in practice. I even downloaded my own little backpacking checklist to test that out too.
These lakes are perfect training grounds because they are SO CLOSE! Just over the way in North Bend, it only takes about an hour or so to get out there from West Seattle. Knowing this area is likely popular due to its proximity to Seattle, I found a few weekdays I could take off to hit the trail with my little Theron. Soren had soccer practice, etc so he got a free pass on this one.
First off, don’t let the trail reports scare you about the roads. I’m only talking to you sedan people like me. You can actually park at the Middle Fork trailhead and walk in from there, which is about a mile. “An extra mile!” you exclaim. Yeah, it adds some mileage, but odds are you want the exercise and it’s going to save you a lot of stress dodging potholes. Anything with more clearance than an Audi A4 can make it no problem. Better solution, make friends with someone who has a Subaru. I’m still working on that. Anyone?
What is true about the trip reports is that the offshoot up to Marten Lake is HARD. The first three miles to the cut-off is easy peasy. You are basically walking on an old logging road which has since overgrown, but it’s beautiful and peaceful. It’s great day hike material in its own right. But then you reach the side trail for Marten Lake, which is unmarked by the way. Download a map on your phone. We passed right by it while we weren’t paying attention. If you hit the bridge you’ve gone too far.
As the trip reports suggest, this trail is not messing around. It’s basically 2,000ft of elevation gain in ONE mile. That little ol’ one mile took us 1.5 hours to complete. It was gnarly. Being it’s an unmaintained trail, meaning no chain saws are coming thru anytime soon, there are a bazillion blowdowns to scramble over and brush so thick you kinda wish you knew how to wield a machete. Several times I thought I would have to undo my pack and hurl it over a fallen tree, but somehow Theron and I always managed to find a way to get me and my 30lb pack over with his assistance. The number of times Theron would say “You can do it Mom!” really warms my heart. True teamwork on this leg.
Once we got up there though……so worth it! We were the only ones there, not surprisingly, and we had the whole lake to ourselves. This was an especially good thing as I honestly have no idea if there are other camp sites around the lake besides that first one we saw. We scouted around a bit but found nothing else. There is also a privy just up the hill, fyi, which I was NOT expecting given this is officially an unmaintained trail. Guess I didn’t need to bring that trowel after all.
I’m interrupting this blog post for a quick PSA. When backpacking, always hang your food. Or use a bear canister; that’s cool too. I know some of you might be rolling your eyes at me, like duh, but hear me out. I only mention this because when I first started backpacking, I honest to goodness did not know this. And heaven knows we have a lot of new backpackers out there since Covid.
I thought, really, what’s wrong with hiding it all away in my tent? I know, I know. Let’s just say I didn’t learn the hard way because I heeded advice, BUT, I see all sorts of crazy stuff out there on trail. This trip in particular reminded me.
Accidentally I left out a small bag of toiletries; just some supplements, a few magnesium pills, and a few brand new feminine products. Well, some little squirrel or something of the sort chewed thru several of my magnesium pills and even tore up my cotton feminine products during the night. This wasn’t even food! So hang your food. Hang your toiletries. Bigger animals would do far worse damage and then might wonder what’s going on closer to your tent.
After our night at Marten Lake we tore down camp and set back down the gnarly trail. I WAS NOT looking forward to coming down what we had struggled to come up, but another 1.5 hours later our shaky legs were back down on the lovely, flat Taylor River Trail. Our task was to make it to Snoqualmie Lake, another 6 miles away.
But first, we had to make a pit stop at Otter Falls, which trail guides described as absolutely beautiful. They were right. The steep but short climb is ABSOLUTELY worth it. Theron fell in love with this place. We even stopped again on our way out, even though all I wanted was to get back to the trailhead and rest my tired feet. Bring your swimsuits for this one.
Finally we made it to the lake. More blow downs on this section as well since really the snow only melted a week or two before. In fact, we passed trail volunteers along the way who were camping with us at Snoqualmie Lake. They were working hard clearing brush and cutting paths through fallen trees. Thank you SO much volunteers! And a special thank you for clearing our path as we walked out the next day. No more trees to climb over/under!
Only sad part was realizing that one of our water filters must have fallen out of my side pouch somewhere between Otter Falls and the lake. Tear.
Lately we’ve been using the Katadyn BeFree water filters as our main filters, with a Sawyer as a back up. They are just so easy to use and have a good flow rate, at least so far. And with just the two of us, having two Be Free filters was more than enough …. until I lost one of them. Gosh darn it all. Let’s hope some trail magic returns our filter somehow. None of these things are exactly cheap, and I managed to get that one on sale. Ugh. But that’s why we have back ups, right? Things happen.
But hey, we still had a peaceful evening at the lake, just scouting around and enjoying some time reading on the rocks and doing crossword puzzles together. It’s the little things that make camping fun.
Also, I’m just a little astounded after this trip. All this beauty, just an hour away from Seattle. I’m sure this place does get a little crowded on the weekends but if you can manage a weekday, do it! Even a day trip to Otter Falls would be worth it.
And before you knew it we were on our way back out, 8 miles to the trailhead, then that pesky last mile back to the car.
See that little orange backpack there? Theron has had that since he was 6 years old. I think it’s time for an upgrade. I mean, he can rock a 9-mile day no problem. The kid deserves a real pack. Stay tuned.
Oh and hey, what is this?!? Yep, found our filter on the way back down, just lying there on the side of the trail. Thanks to everyone who DIDN’T pick this up and just hoped its owner would come back through. We did, and we are grateful.
