Gold Creek Trail to Alaska Lake — Tuesday, Sep. 12, 2000

Snoqualmie Region > Snoqualmie Pass

This was my first time on this trail. With only 1600' vertical in 11 miles round trip, it sounds like a pretty easy hike. Not so! Keep in mind that 1200' of that is gained in the last terrible mile. This last bit of the trail is marked on the Green Trails map with a dotted line, which should have been a tipoff. I would soon find out what the dotted line indicates! The first 4.5 miles are mostly flat and fairly easy going, except for a few muddy boggy spots, possibly beaver-engineered. The trail is quite brushy for long stretches, so with the morning dew I was soon soaked from the waist down. I also found staying on the sometimes-obscure trail to be a challenge - I must have lost the trail 3 or 4 times altogether. This being a Wednesday, I saw no one else on the trail all day. However, I did have the silence interrupted three different times, as A-6 Intruders came screaming up the narrow mountain valley at low altitude. I guess the guys from Whidbey Island NAS were out having some fun, or else practicing for an invasion of Afghanistan. The last mile climbs to the lake from the junction of the Alaska Lake and Gold Creek trails, and is probably the most miserable stretch of trail I have yet encountered! Most of this section consists of a steep, rocky creek bed that tunnels through an impenetrable thicket of slide alder. You basically climb a staircase of loose boulders while parting the alder branches with your hands, and asking yourself, are we having fun yet'' The only relief is when you briefly emerge from the jungle to climb across talus fields. Well, I finally arrived at the lake in one piece, albeit pretty scraped up, and sat down for lunch. There are some nice campsites, although I think you'd have to be awfully determined, or possibly deranged, to haul up here with a fully loaded pack. After having experienced the Alaska Lake trail, I figured the ""route"" over the ridge to Joe Lake (shown in the guide book) was probably way more fun than I was ready for today, and headed back down. To sum up, Alaska Lake is a nice enough destination if you're willing to pay the price. When it comes to hiking, my attitude is ""no pain, no gain"", but... this trail pegs my meter on the pain to gain ratio.