Glacier Lake — Sunday, May. 3, 2026

This trail has a lot of features to fill your western cascade bingo card, including spring wildflowers old growth forest, a beautiful creek and the lake destination at the end at the end. Along the way there are some massive moss covered boulders, and I was surprised by a hobbit sized tiny cave along the trail to spark the mythical imaginations.

I also really appreciated the soundscape, the trail drops deeply down to the roaring creek and then climbs away from it again. Towards the top of the hike much of the creek is flowing underground beneath the mossy rock gardens, out of ear shot and through the quiet I heard the bird songs and the occasional woodpecker at work.

The lake itself seems quite low, probably due to the minimal snow this year but a tangle of driftwood logs demonstrate a past high watermark.

On the Forest Service scale, this rates as a class, 1 primitive trail, owing to its steep roller coaster up and downs, narrow tread and occasional large obstacles like roots and rocks to step up and over. Thus it took longer than I would expect for the distance but I enjoyed the challenge and the variety.