Waptus Lake via Waptus River, Waptus Pass & Polallie Ridge — Tuesday, Jul. 5, 2016

Snoqualmie Region > Salmon La Sac/Teanaway

We started this hike on Tuesday July 5. The 9-10 mile hike upto Waptus Lake is very peasant and you can make good time. For those not familiar with the region like we were not, the weather on this side of the cascades is completely different to that on the Snoqualmie Pass side with substantially less rainfall. Indeed we came over to this side because the weather was much better and the snow levels much lower. The trail upto Waptus Lake was in good condition for the most part but the trail did get quite overgrown close to Waptus Lake and especially on the part of the Waptus Pass trail along the edge of the lake. Moreover, the start of this trail was actually a mini river, and hence potentially miss-able, but eventually became dry again with one or two blowdowns. Additionally, Posion Ivy was growing like crazy and unavoidable since it was overhanging the trail a lot once the trail became overgrown. Despite sketchy reports about the possibility of getting out along Polallie ridge, we decided to give it a try. The trail ascends quite quickly along the Waptus Pass trail leaving the lake and there are a couple of places early where you could lose the trail but, overall, the trail was in quite good condition up to the junction with Polallie Ridge trail. Here's where things got interesting. The mile and a half stretch to the junction with Tired Creek trail was basically blanketed with blow downs, sometimes piled three high. It's passable if you're intent on doing so, but slow going and often the best way to make progress through the dense mass of blow downs is not obvious. However, the trail does clear up substantially after the junction with the Tired Creek trail and then you certainly get your reward! The view from the abandoned lookout is absolutely incredible!! Here you have a clear 360 degree view of the cascades. I think this view easily beats that from the Kendall Katwalk. But, be prepared for bugs in bug season. They were crazy over the July 4 weekend. The rest of the trail down to the parking lot is rarely flat, either somewhat steep up or somewhat steep down. I guess this is why the trail is not as popular as it could be given the view from the abandoned lookout. But the trail is easy to follow and basically snow free. Closer to the trailhead we started to come across more blow downs although no where near as intense as the other end of the ridge and clean up crews were already making good progress. Overall, I highly recommend the Polallie Ridge trail.