Soda Peaks Lake — Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2011

Southwest Washington > Lewis River Region

Soda Peaks Lake via Trail #133. Approached from Government Mineral Springs. Nice primitive trail recently maintained. Awesome old growth Doug fir. Woodpeckers. Views of Mt. Hood, St. Helen's and Adams near lake. Still quite a few flowers. Lake is tranquil, water not too cold, fish visible. Met 2 hikers at lake who said the western approach from USFS Road 54 is buggy now. Not so from eastern approach. All maps/guides give eastern approach as 3 miles. I think more like 5 w/ switchbacks. Though a continuous climb, its moderate, just seems longer than 3 miles. Wife & I are recovering from back and knee issues, so we took it slow. Returned the same way. Took us about 7 1/2 hours including the hour rest at the lake. Would definitely do it again. Did Observation Point a week before this. Though both hikes were similar, the destination experiences are very different.