#HIDDEN LAKE TRAIL WASHINGTON SKIN#

No matter how many sunrises or sunsets I witness in the mountains I am still completely awed by watching the first light of day grace the peaks. This hike primary trail can be used both directions. There were many exclamations about the beauty of the area and how lucky we were to witness such a sunrise. Hidden Lake Trail is a 1 mile less popular green singletrack family friendly trail located near Washington Washington. As the sun rose everyone in the lookout congregated outside to welcome the day together. I always love the way blue hour softens even the most jagged summits and harshest mountain ridges. The sunrise was just as spectacular as the previous evening’s sunset. I put all my layers on, wrapped myself in my sleeping bag, grabbed my camera, and headed out into the cold. That was all the motivation I needed to get up. I was content to just continue to sleep but then I caught a glimpse of an orange sky through the frosted window panes. I wanted so badly to watch the sunrise but dreaded leaving my warm sleeping bag. A few minutes later Alex shook me awake, “it’s sunrise”, he whispered. Mine went off and I instinctively snoozed it and fell back to sleep. I pulled my sleeping bag tighter around my face and felt grateful for the shelter. As I lay in the dark and drifted off to sleep, the wind howled outside. We were now up to six occupants in the tiny lookout.Įventually conversation wore down and we all crawled into our sleeping bags for evening. Instead, we were given a brief teaser of what we would see when we reached the lookout and I couldn’t wait for our eventual arrival.Īs we were taking a lunch break a group of three passed us, also heading toward the lookout. Every so often a gap in the canopy of trees would reveal glimpses of nearby mountains, but they weren’t fully revealed yet. We spent the entire morning and early afternoon in the trees. Parts of the ascent were steep and icy in the shadowy forest and others were more gradual and allowed for nice skinning. It was slow going, we transitioned from skins to ski crampons to boot packing and back to skins a couple of times along the way. We eventually mustered the will power to leave the road and head up. As we stood on the road and looked up at the ridge above us, it seemed insurmountable. We knew this was around the elevation where we would leave the road and begin skinning along the winter route.

#HIDDEN LAKE TRAIL WASHINGTON SKIN#

We were relieved to drop our packs, put our skis on, and skin up the road with noticeably lighter loads on our back.Īfter about an hour of skinning on the road we made it to 3,000’. One short switchback later and we hit the snow line. We exchanged greetings, learned his name was Chris, and determined we were heading to the same place so we bid adieu for the time being. After one long road switchback we ran into a skier who was getting ready at his truck. The road was completely void of snow so we strapped our skis to our packs and began booting up the road.

Hidden lake trail washington