Lake Twenty-two- Mountain Loop Hwy

Lake Twenty-two is a favorite of many, so I got up early-ish to hit this hike on a gorgeous clear day that was supposed to be over 70.  For once the forecasters had it right and it was sunny and quite warm.  To make it even nicer, Justus had agreed to join Cedar and I.  We got to the trailhead before 9, but there were already a handful of cars.  Up and up the gentle switchbacks through gargantuan cedar trees and across and through countless tiny streams we went.  There were bleeding hearts, yellow violets and some trillium at certain elevations.  In some areas, the fern fiddleheads were still all tightly wound, and this one was a pretty red.

Then the switchbacks came out into the sunshine of a rocky slope and the views were wonderful.  The pointy triangular mountain may be Liberty Mountain, but I’m new to my Green Trails Maps, so if someone recognizes it, please let me know in the comments.

On this hot sunny section of the trail, we also saw a couple of these brilliant scarlet bugs, which I believe are velvet mites.  They are super tiny, maybe the size of a pinhead, but the color catches the eye. 

Past the hot slopes and back under the trees we got up into the snowline.  Now the trail was increasingly covered with up to 4 feet of slushy snow.  It was melting out in spots, so footing was a bit treacherous.  Adventure Dog was thrilled, and I had to take his leash off and let him run around in it.  Justus wore his barefoot shoes all the way, but I put my socks and hiking boots on for the snow to avoid freezing my feet.

The ground leveled out and suddenly the trees and snow opened up on Lake Twenty-two, sparkling and half covered in snow under the cloudless blue sky.

We had hoped to see and hear some avalanches, which are common here, but we didn’t really.  I heard one and looked up in time to see a rock or two falling, but that was it.  We had passed someone coming in who had seen several, one lasting over a minute.  We did see this happy little snowy hill though.

We stood awhile on the wooden bridge soaking up the rare Northwest sunshine, and then headed back down.  The pikas were awake now and I could hear them sounding off like squeaky toys all around.  I managed to get a shot of this one, who was obviously very suspicious of my intentions.

It was a great hike, and a perfect morning.  Coming back out we passed many people excited to be out in the summery weather and the parking lot at the bottom was packed, with cars spilled out along the turn in and onto Mountain Loop Highway.  I felt it was a personal success because looking back at my blog from the 1^st time I had written how tired my legs were, and I have become more fit. Today felt like a lark.