Snow Lake Trail: Everything You Need Before Hiking Washington’s Busiest Alpine Lake

More than 21,000 people have logged reviews of this single hike on AllTrails alone, which tells you almost everything about how popular the Snow Lake Trail has become since Alpental’s parking lot turned into one of the busiest trailheads in the entire Alpine Lakes Wilderness. There’s a reason for that popularity, and there’s also a fair bit of confusion around this trail that’s worth clearing up before you show up expecting the wrong thing.

Detail	Info
Trailhead	Alpental Ski Area parking lot
Distance	6–7 miles round trip
Elevation Gain	1,300–1,800 feet, depending on source
High Point	~4,400 feet
Time Needed	4–4.5 hours
Difficulty	Moderate, with exposed rocky sections
Pass Required	Northwest Forest Pass

First, a Word of Warning About the Name

If you search around online, you’ll run into a second trail with an almost identical name: the Snow Lakes trail inside the Enchantments permit area near Leavenworth. That’s a completely different hike, in a different mountain range, requiring an entirely different permit system. This guide covers the Snow Lake Trail near Snoqualmie Pass, the one that starts from the Alpental Ski Area, not its confusingly-named cousin two hours east.

Location	Snow Lake Trail (Snoqualmie Pass)	Snow Lakes (Enchantments)
	Alpental, near I-90	Near Leavenworth
Distance from Seattle	~50 miles	~140 miles
Permit Needed	Northwest Forest Pass only	Enchantments Wilderness Permit (lottery-based for overnight)
Mountain Range Access	Cascade Range, Alpine Lakes Wilderness (west side)	Alpine Lakes Wilderness (east side, Enchantments core)
Best For	Day hikers near Seattle	Multi-day backpackers with permits

Why So Many People Hike This One

Proximity to Seattle explains a lot of it. Exit 52 off I-90 puts you at the Snow Lake Trail trailhead in roughly an hour from the city, which is a shorter drive than almost any other alpine lake destination in the Cascades. Add a genuinely rewarding payoff, a translucent lake tucked beneath Chair Peak, and a moderate difficulty rating that doesn’t require serious backcountry experience, and it’s not surprising the Snow Lake Trail draws crowds that rival far more famous destinations.

Getting There From Seattle

From downtown Seattle, take I-90 East to Exit 52, signed for Snoqualmie Pass West. Turn left, crossing under the freeway, then take the second right and follow the road roughly 1.3 miles to its end at the Alpental parking lot. The whole drive typically runs about 50 miles and just under an hour outside of rush hour traffic, though Friday afternoons and summer weekend mornings can add real delay heading east out of the city.

What the Snow Lake Trail Actually Looks Like

The Snow Lake Trail climbs steadily above the South Fork Snoqualmie River for its first stretch, passing several seasonal waterfalls with Snoqualmie Mountain rising to your right. Around the 1.75 to 2 mile mark, a signed junction offers a short spur trail out to an overlook of Source Lake, the headwaters of the Snoqualmie River’s south fork, worth the small detour if you have time to spare. Past that junction, the trail switches to steeper switchbacks, climbing through more exposed, rocky terrain until it crests a saddle. From there, you’ll actually descend around 400 feet to reach the lake’s shore, a drop you’ll have to regain on the return trip, which surprises a fair number of first-time hikers expecting the whole route to be uphill on the way in.

Distance Marker	What’s There
Start–1.5 miles	Climb through forest, waterfalls, river views
1.75–2 miles	Source Lake Overlook spur trail junction
2–2.8 miles	Steeper switchbacks, exposed rocky sections
~3 miles	Saddle, first full view of the lake below
3–3.3 miles	Descent to the shoreline, remains of an old cabin along a side trail

If You Want to Keep Going

Snow Lake isn’t actually the end of the trail system for hikers wanting more. Beyond the lake, the route continues toward Gem Lakes and Wildcat Lakes, both considerably quieter than Snow Lake itself once you push past the main crowd. For anyone chasing a bigger day, an ambitious one-way option continues on to Melakwa Lake, involving some off-trail scrambling and a stop at Chair Peak along the way, running roughly 9.3 miles one-way with about 4,400 feet of total elevation gain.

Destination	One-Way Distance from Snow Lake	Crowd Level
Gem Lakes	~2 miles further	Low
Wildcat Lakes	~2.5 miles further	Low
Melakwa Lake (via scramble route)	Roughly 9.3 miles total one-way from trailhead	Very Low

Fishing and Wildlife

Rainbow Trout live in the lake’s waters at the end of the Snow Lake Trail, and while the fishing here has a reputation for being slow, plenty of people bring a rod anyway given how easy the setting makes it to just sit and wait. Pika are common in the rocky sections near the saddle, and the terrain beyond Snow Lake, toward Gem and Wildcat Lakes, sees a noticeable drop in foot traffic and a corresponding increase in genuine backcountry quiet.

A Note on Winter Hiking

Snow Lake stays tempting as a winter destination, and plenty of people do attempt it in the colder months, but the steep terrain in the trail’s first stretch creates real avalanche risk once snow accumulates. This isn’t a trail to treat casually in winter conditions without proper avalanche awareness and equipment, regardless of how manageable it feels during a summer visit.

Season	Trail Conditions	Recommended For
Late June–July	Snow often lingering near the saddle	Experienced hikers, microspikes helpful
August	Fully clear, warmest	Most visitors, peak crowds
September	Clear, cooling, fewer people	Best balance of conditions and crowds
October	Cold, early snow possible	Shoulder-season visitors, check conditions first
November–May	Snow-covered, avalanche terrain	Only for those with avalanche training and gear

Packing List for the Snow Lake Trail

Item	Reason
Sturdy footwear	Rocky, exposed sections beyond the Source Lake junction
Extra water	No reliable filtered source until you reach the lake
Layers	Wind exposure increases noticeably near the saddle
Trekking poles	Helpful on the descent to the shore and the return climb back up
Early start	Parking fills fast; this is one of the most visited trailheads in the region

Questions People Ask Before Going