One night trip to Heart Lake and Hawkeye Point.
The hike into Heart Lake was a gentle climb the whole way. You start in the forest and get occasional views of Rainier with Packwood Lake below it. The trail opens up when you reach Lily Basin and it’s quite beautiful with the fall colors just starting to come in. After the Angry Mountain junction you lose the Rainier views, but gain St. Helens and Adams. Overall, the trail is in good shape to the lake. There were a couple of steep sections that had loose rock, which I didn’t love, but everything was passable if I took my time and watched my step. The trail was also pretty narrow in a few spots, but nothing too treacherous.
We set up camp at Heart Lake before continuing on to Hawkeye Point. The additional 2.5-ish miles and 1,600 feet of gain were worth it for the views and the hike around the basin! The trail around the basin was in good shape, with a few more of the steep sections. The final 0.4 miles from the junction to the top of Hawkeye is pretty steep and loose, but it wasn’t very exposed. We had an amazing 360 view at the top and could see Rainier, St. Helens, Adams, and Hood as well as Goat Lake and the PCT down to the east. Goat Lake and Snowgrass Flats looked busy, and we were glad to be heading back to the quiet of Heart Lake.
Road/Parking: Road is in good shape, there were a few potholes, but nothing bad. Parking is along the side of the road at the trailhead. There were only two other cars there when we arrived on Saturday morning. We saw in another trip report that Google Maps will try to route you the wrong way to the trailhead via Snyder Road and FS-1260 from Packwood, but that the road is impassable. We took FS-48 across from the Crest Trail lodge on the south end of Packwood and had no issues.
Camping: We camped in the trees just above Heart Lake. Nice campsite, but it was lacking in views. There was a really nice site just before the Angry Mountain trail junction with views of Rainier, but no water nearby. There was another spot in the basin between Heart Lake and Hawkeye point that also had an amazing view. It was also dry, but there was water running between it and Hawkeye Point. There’s another spot below Hawkeye point on the Goat Lake side of the ridge that looked great, as well.
Flora/fauna: Fall colors were just starting to come in. Lots of Pasque Flower/Dr. Suess flowers out right now. We heard pika and marmot, and saw one goat on our way back from Hawkeye.
Comments