Snow Lakes Trail

Took My Son on the approach in preparation for an overnight permit when and will it will happen. Nice views of craggy mountaintop. Destroyed 3000ft in a jolt of sartorial splendor. Ran into an adolescent mountain goat at 1500ft elevation otw down. We had to double back twice before he moved off trail. Was a curious teenager just like mine. Peace out.

Definitely a challenging fun hike, did it last year with a friend in a day. Got there around 6 and got back to our car around 5. We did stop to take breaks and take pictures. Highly recommend.

Beautiful hike, extremely busy though, would recommend getting there early before the lot fills up.

Snow free to that point - the snow only start on the way up to Lake Viviane. Gorgeous hike! But I'd really suggest going higher up - the full loop being the best obviously.

Beautiful views! Trail is in excellent condition. It was an easier hike than anticipated. It’s labeled ‘hard’ but the terrain and elevation gain are definitely ‘moderate’ it’s just long-ish. If you have a heavy pack and are hiking mid-day it’s probably hard. Highlight was the mama mountain goat and her kid frolicking around Nada Lake.

Hiked 6/22-6/23. Mosquitoes were absolutely terrible, we couldn't leave our tents unless we went for a hike and we definitely were not about to hang out at the campground. No snow around either Snow Lake, however, there is a little patch of snow if you hike up to Viviane Lake/Viviane Falls (we did not need our microspikes) and Viviane Lake is about 50% covered in snow still. Got to the parking lot at 7:00am on Monday and grabbed one of the last spots. Our hike up was nicely shaded and we had little issues with heat or sun but our hike down was hot in the afternoon heat. We saw a handful of goats along with other wildlife. Trail crews were blasting through rock falls on our way out which made the trail way more manageable coming up from Nada Lake. Overall great hike! But bugs were seriously terrible.

Good hard hike. If you go the entire way to the end of snow lake - as depicted by all trails - it is actually a little more than 17 miles. If you stop at the damn crossing (spill over) that is approximately 15 miles round trip.

Arrived on Saturday lunch time with cars down both sides down the road but only little trouble finding a spot. Spent two nights camping at lower snow lake with a day hike up to lake Viviane. There was a small patch of snow to cross right before Viviane but otherwise the trail is clear. The lake was still completely covered by snow/ice.

Got the snow zone permit this year. Came up a night early and found a camp spot on the side of icicle creek road am reading later that’s not allowed right now but there are a lot of other vehicles doing the same. Hike was challenging to start with switchbacks right away. Lucked out with great weather during the hikes but had a 4 hour hailstorm when we got to the Snow Lakes, thankfully we had already set up camp! Really beautiful terrain, no mountain goats but a ton of pikas.

Hiked up on June 7th, camped at Snow Lake and came back on June 9th. The parking lot gets full early, so plan well. We saw WTA people improving the trail when we came back on the 9th, thank you for the awesome job you do! There are just a few patches of snow right before Viviane Lake, but besides that the trail is clear. The scramble to Viviane is intense at a few spots. Viviane is still covered in snow and ice, but Snow is totally melted over and camping there was amazing. We saw many mountain goats. The hike to Snow is no joke, long and intense with a heavy backpack, be prepared.

Very tough to do in one day, it is a long hike. Worth it once you get to the lake!

Great hike. Was humid and the hike time was longer than I anticipated. I wish I had either brought more water or a water filter to drink stream water with confidence. I used a wet (soaked it in the cold steam) shirt around the back of my neck to help keep me cool which was so helpful.

This was my first time at Snow - it’s a good hike, and I’d probably have given it 5 stars without a comparison to Colchuck. There are a few trees down that are pretty easy to hop over or under. The trail between Nada and Snow has three boulder fields where you have to briefly navigate by cairns. The cairns were well-placed and it wasn’t technical or anything, just a bit of a scramble in some areas. Patchy snow after Nada as well but it’s hard-packed. I brought both poles and microspikes and didn’t need either. Snow is lovely - but it’s quite a grind for that payoff to do in one day.

Minimal snow a few miles into the hike. On 5/22, I saw less than 10 people in the 8 hour duration I was on the trail. Gorgeous views!