After liking Snow Lake so much I thought I’d look for similar Alpine Lake hikes in the area. The best part about hiking in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness off of i90 is it’s close proximity to Seattle. It makes for some convenient day hikes. And since the snow is still waiting to make it’s big debut (any day now please!!!) there are still snowshoe-free hikes available. My friend Lacey and I took advantage of a day off to hike up to Talapus and Olallie Lakes. We arrived at the trailhead to discover we’d be the only folks hiking – what a rare treat! We had the whole trail to ourselves, the only sounds being our voices and the chirping of the birds.
Making your way up to Talapus Lake is pretty quick – only two miles to get there so I suggest pushing on another 1.5 miles to Olallie Lake. Both lakes were frozen over with a layer of snow, but the trail itself only had a light dusting. We brought microspikes along but didn’t end up needing to use them.
On a happy side note did you see that Congress expanded the Alpine Lakes Wilderness to include more of the Pratt River side? You can read more about it on the Seattle Times here.
Lettering Medium: Brush pen
Distance Roundtrip: WTA claims 7.2 miles roundtrip but the trailhead sign says 4 miles RT to Talapus Lake, 6 miles RT to Olallie Lake.
Elevation Gain: 1200 ft.
Highest Elevation: 3780 ft.
Location: Snoqualmie Pass
