Pete Lake, Waptus Pass, Escondido Lake & Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) Section J - Snoqualmie Pass to Stevens Pass — Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021

I completed a really fun one-night backpack up to the Escondido Ridge / Summit Chief area off the PCT. This was my first trip to this location, and it exceeded all my expectations.

ROAD, CROWDS

I started at the Pete Lake Trailhead. The road in is paved to within two miles of the trailhead. The gravel road at the end has some potholes and rocks, but nothing too terrible so any car can make it. There were about a dozen other cars at the trailhead when I arrived at 10:30 AM on Sunday, and a bit less when I left on Monday afternoon.

In terms of people, almost everyone I saw was on the Pete Lake Trail, about 20 people and three horses on Sunday, and 10 people and two horses on Monday. I only saw one other hiker the entire trip, on the Waptus Pass Trail Sunday as I was ascending from Pete Lake. It's kind of wild having such a gorgeous area all to yourself, but such is the nature of fall hiking sometimes!

PETE LAKE

The trail to Pete Lake is mostly a nice forest walk. Plenty of shade for warm days, and a pretty well-groomed trail. There is one small blowdown about 1.5 miles in, and a larger one 3 miles in. There is about 400-500' of elevation change along the way, but Pete Lake is less than 200' higher than the trailhead, so the ups and downs are fairly equal. It feels harder on the way back if your legs are tired. There are some fall colors, but not a lot, and no real views to speak of until you get to the end. There is some mud along the way and a few creek crossings, but all are dry or low right now. There are good views of Chikamin and Lemah from the east end of the lake near the trail, and plenty of camp sites and day use areas. This section took me about 1:30.

WAPTUS PASS / ESCONDIDO LAKE

The signed Waptus Pass trail starts right by the east end of the lake. It's gradual for a few minutes, but then starts switchbacking up the steep slope. The switchbacks are a bit churned up due to horses, the but the grade is certainly manageable. It will still feel like a lot of work compared to the hike you just did to get to Pete Lake, gaining about 1000' feet in the first mile before mellowing out. The trail is very nice after this, as it slowly ascends toward Waptus Pass. After crossing the Cooper River, there is soon a sign for the Escondido Lake Trail, which climbs to your left. This trail is in need of some light brushing, but it's not too bad, and all the blowdowns seem to have been cleared recently - thank you trail crews! It's a bit more climbing to get to the lake, but the ascent is gradual.

As others have reported, the name "Escondido" or "hidden" is fitting for the lake, since the trail has no views of the lake! When you get to the big horse camps next to the meadow on your left, you'll want to take a left through one of the camps, and find the bootpath that heads south. It will take you across the outlet stream, then along the east shore of the lake. There are more camps along here, and lake access. It took me about 1:40 to reach Escondido Lake from Pete Lake.

From here, my mission was to ascend Escondido Ridge up to the PCT. If you keep following the boot path around the lake, it eventually continues southward up the ridge. The path disappears quite a bit, but is clearly visible at both the top and the bottom and you generally go in a straight line upward. There is a gully the path pops out of at the top, though I missed this on the way up and pulled myself up some rather steep duff a bit too far south. The brush along this ridge climb is not too bad, as it's mostly open woods. This climb took only about 0:20.

NOTE: If you're not interested in Escondido Lake, you can continue on the Waptus Pass Trail until you reach the Waptus Burn Trail, then turn left for about 1.7 miles to reach the PCT. Then turn left again (southbound) on the PCT. This is quite a bit longer than the route I used, but is on nice trail the whole way without any steep stuff or bushwhacking. This is the shortest "on trail" route to Escondido Ridge, and probably the one I would use on my next trip up there.

ESCONDIDO RIDGE TO PCT

Once you get up to the ridge, you will find an obvious boot path along the ridge line. In short, follow the ridge up and you will eventually intersect the PCT. The boot path will be more obvious in places where the ridge is narrower. If you lose it, don't worry, just keep heading up the route that looks easiest. It's not hard to stay on the ridge, since it drops off pretty steeply if you stray too far east or west. Most of this area was burned back in 1994, according to my research, so it's mostly just low brush and dead trees. There are lot of logs that need to be climbed over, but it's not too bad. I spent about 0:45 on this section, with quite a few stops for pictures. This part is where the views really open up, as you can see Mount Stuart and lots of stuff east, including Bears Breast and Daniel close by, along with Three Queens, Box Ridge, and Chikamin Ridge peaks in the other direction. Tons of fall color through the burn areas.

PCT TO VISTA TARNS

This is just a short section, but I wanted to include it since it's one of the more scenic parts. The fall color along the PCT here is incredible - mostly reds but there are some golds mixed in too. The red colors along with blue sky (if you're lucky), and all the white burned tree trunks and various rock outcroppings is quite dramatic. This section of the PCT is mostly flat, so it only took me about half an hour to reach the turnoff for Vista Tarns, though I am sure half of that was gawking at the scenery and taking pictures. If you have some spare time, when you first reach the PCT from Escondido Ridge, you can go right (northbound) for a few minutes to reach the Escondido Tarns area. I didn't do this, but it's supposedly a really pretty area. Camping is discouraged here by a very faded sign you might see.

As you round the corner of the ridge, you are presented with jaw-dropping views of the entire skyline from Three Queens to Chikamin to Lemah to Chimney Rock. Summit Chief is also visible, but partly hidden behind the ridge containing the Vista Tarns. The huge chasm between Chimney Rock and Summit Chief is really something. 

The turn to Vista Tarns is an obvious side trail just before a big switchback to the left, at around 5520'. There are some smaller side trails that will eventually get you there, but the main one is only about 150' from the first tarn.

VISTA TARNS

I camped on a mostly level slab of rock just to the west of the upper Vista Tarn, which I called "Vista Camp". It was a really spectacular camp site in terms of the view, but the amenities are nice too - a huge boulder serves as a perfect table, and there were enough flat rocks to make a stool to sit on. The upper tarn is only about 100' away, and there is a smaller tarn more like 20' away, which is very scenic. The smooth slabs make a nice base for your tent, though you may need to get creative with ways to hold your tent down - I put mine just on the edge so I could use my stakes on at least two corners. There is camping available closer to the tarns, but it's on fragile vegetation, which generally should be avoided, and is sometimes damp as well. The rocks were nice and dry, and it was cool to be able to get out of my tent in my socks without getting my feet wet or dirty!

There is a pretty decent boot path that leads along both tarns, then ascends up to the pass beyond the upper tarn. It then climbs up and over the high point on the ridge toward Summit Chief - I'm sure because this is the common climber's route to Summit Chief. I went up to this high point in the evening, taking about 20-30 minutes each way. Up here you get spectacular views of The Chiefs, but even more impressive views of Bears Breast Mountain and Mount Daniel to the east.

SUMMIT CHIEF LAKE

The next morning, I walked the ridge trail again to reach Summit Chief Lake. Once you near Summit Chief Pass at about 5750', there is an obvious large, grassy gully to the right that will take you to the lake. It's mostly solid rock and heather / grass, so pretty easy going. The lake is about 400' down and except for one or two place, you can't see it until you get close, due to the steep bowl it's in. Stay to the left on the way down or you'll get cliffed out on the SE side of the lake. The lake itself is deep and gorgeous, with a nice infinity pool effect on the east side looking toward Mount Daniel. Would be great for swimming, if one were so inclined!

On the way back, I decided to avoid the high point traverse, and instead follow along the ledge systems on the east side of the ridge. This was super cool, and not all that difficult. Tons of big flat areas with grass and some small tarns. There is a huge, basketball-court-sized flat area that would make an awesome camp site with views of the Waptus Valley and Bears Breast, and enough small tarns close by for water. Some of the ledges dead end, but with the nice solid rock, it's easy enough to climb up to the next one when needed. Just keep traversing at roughly the 5600' level and you'll make it back to the pass leading to Vista Tarns. I "rescued" a bright red helium balloon I found just on the east side of this pass. It took me about 1:00 each way, with lots of picture stops, so the ridge route and ledge route are pretty similar in terms of time and effort.

DESCENDING ESCONDIDO RIDGE

Let's get this out of the way first - I DO NOT recommend this option unless you really like bushwhacking. On the return, I descended back down Escondido Ridge the way I came up, but instead of going down to Escondido Lake, I kept going straight down the ridge line. While this was fine for a bit past the Escondido Lake path, all signs of a trail vanish after when the ridge flattens out. I probably spent an hour just going through mixed woods and brush to get back down to the Waptus Pass Trail right at the top of the switchbacks to Pete Lake. Going this route, it's only about 3 miles back to Pete Lake vs. the 7 miles if you go down PCT and the Waptus Burn Trail, but I estimate it only saved me about 30 minutes due to the much slower pace. It was pretty annoying having to step over all manner of blowdowns, holes, bushes, etc. and keep checking my GPS every five minutes to make sure I wasn't veering off course. Certainly not the worst bushwhacking, but compared with all the nice trails and open country on this trip, it sucked.

SUMMARY

I can't recommend this area enough. If you're going to do it all on-trail, then it's a workout to make it all the way up to Vista Tarns in one day with a heavy pack - about 11 miles and a bit under 3000' of gain. However, your pains melt away once you start seeing the amazing views up on the ridge. You could also do the ascent (or descent) via Lemah Meadows and come up from the west side. This is slightly longer, but would make a great lollipop loop option - pretty luxurious for the cost of only a single night.

Vista Camp would be an excellent base camp for a summit of Summit Chief, which is supposedly just a scramble. You can also climb up to Escondido Point or visit Escondido Tarns from here. It's fantastic country with some of the big name peaks in the ALW staring you in the face.