Packwood Lake — Friday, Jun. 21, 2002

South Cascades > Goat Rocks

Decided to take a look at Packwood Lake. The road is paved all the way to the trailhead where there is a large parking lot. Due to our late start, we didn't arrive at the parking area until 10:30 AM and there were quite a few cars in the lot at that time. The trail itself was in pretty good shape. We took the upper trail to the lake and were surprised to see a little snow in the shadows. Lots of people at the lake which included both overnighters and dayhikers. Enjoyed lunch at the lake and decided to go back along the lower trail. This trail is shorter and less hilly than the upper trail. It is open to motorized traffic though we only saw one motorcyclist the whole way back. One nice thing is that the lower trail has some tremendous views of Mt. Ranier and the Cowlitz River valley which the upper trail doesn't have. The bad thing is that at the end of the ATV trail there is no easy way back to the parking lot except to loop around to the main road and climb back to the parking lot. Good hike.