Twenty Two Creek

Last Monday, the weather had cooled off but it was still warm. No rain was forecast so we decided to take advantage of the weather to go hiking. We decided to go to Lake 22 which is north of Seattle along the Mountain Loop Highway.

Mt. Pilchuck is the dominating peak in the area. For many years, it was an easy to get to ski area with two chairs and a couple of rope tows. It eventually lost its permit and the area closed.

There are several lakes located in small cirques below the rocky slopes including Lake 22. It is an easy 1 hour drive from Seattle. The trail to the lake is 5.4 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 1350ft.The proximity to Seattle and the easy trail makes it very popular even during the week.

The Forest Service has recently build a new set of bathrooms at the trail head in addition doing work and laying gravel in the parking area. The trail starts starts climbing slowly above the Mt. Loop Highway to the crossing with Twenty Two Creek. It starts to climb more switching back to waterfall views of the creek. It was running fast – an indicator that we were going to run into snow. There were wonderful small woodland plants like Cornus canadensis lining the trail.

After climbing for a while, the trail opens and crosses a large talus slope bring lots of interesting plants in the open area. The trail makes a couple of large switch backs up the slope before reentering the forest near the creek. This become more boggy. It was filled with Skunk Cabbage – Lysichiton americanus. Can you guess that it is related to the stinky Arum in my garden? Yes! It is one of the few arums that are native to the US. There is also a species that grows in bogs in the east. The weather was cool so we did not notice any odor.

We were just about 1/4 mile from the lake when we ran into snow. The moist air had cooled considerably and we arrived at a foggy snowy lake. On clear days, the rocky slopes of Mt Pilchuck tower in the background. Maybe another day.

Well maintained trail to start

The steps eases the elevation gain along the switchbacks

Cornus canadensis lines the forest trail

Diamond-like dew drops

Linnaea borealis – Twinflower

Asarum caudatum – wild ginger

Misty hillside

Aruncus dioicus – goatsbeard

Delicate Maidenhair Fern

Lysichiton americanus – Western Skunk Cabbage

Trillium ovatum

Foggy Lake 22

Foggy Lake 22