Hiking to Heather Lake
A perfect shoulder season hike!
Mileage: 4.4 miles out-and-back
Elevation gain: 1,200 feet
Dogs allowed: yes
Difficultly: easy/moderate
Solitude: no crowds (we went in late fall and were one of five cars on a Sunday)
Distance from Seattle: 1 hour with zero traffic
Permitted: yes (NW Forest Pass or National Parks Pass)
Other notes: there is a little bit of blowdown from the bomb cyclone, but it’s easy to navigate around.
It’s officially shoulder season, a time of year when we have to navigate the in-between weeks of backpacking season and the ski slopes opening. The challenge is finding hikes that aren’t already completely buried in snow. Last weekend, with both days free, we decided on a hike that balanced early snow with accessibility—enough snow for some winter magic but not so much we’d need snowshoes (I really don’t love snowshoeing). After some research, Heather Lake stood out; reviews mentioned light snow around the lake but a hikeable trail that only required spikes.
Saturday promised clear skies, while rain and snow were set to return Sunday. Naturally, Michael said, “Let’s definitely go Sunday.” Though he’s not a PNW native, his love for the rain makes him fit right in.
We got a late start on Sunday, leaving the city around 9am after grabbing coffee and breakfast from our favorite roasters, Anchorhead. Thankfully, the trailhead was just an hour away, so we arrived around 10am to find only a few cars in the parking lot. The hike was stunning and relatively easy, winding through the quintessential lush PNW rainforest; the trail was dotted with vibrant mushrooms, glossy rain-soaked ferns and HUGE pine tress.
There was some blowdown from the recent bomb cyclone, but it was easy to navigate around or under. Snow began appearing about 0.15 miles from the lake and I stopped to put on spikes (Michael insists slipping around is somehow fun). The lake itself was under a blanket of fog but we could see the first few inches of snow covering the rocks around the lake.
I hope you all are having a very relaxing and wonderful Thanksgiving however you’ve decided to celebrate! Since moving to the PNW, we’ve made a tradition of staying local for Thanksgiving, using it as our holiday together before heading back home for Christmas (which we still do separately). This year, I’m on-call for work through noon tomorrow, but after that, we’re heading to Whidbey Island for a little getaway until Sunday! I’m so excited—I've heard Whidbey is very cute with its Christmas decorations and the weather looks like it’ll be gorgeous (a true PNW miracle), so we’ll actually be able to enjoy the views from our seaside cottage. I’ll definitely be posting about our trip with all our favorite things that we did. Talk to you then!