Mirror Lake

About three weeks ago Barb and I went on a hike to Mirror lake. It was suggested by one of her sisters and we happily headed east from Bellevue traveling over Snoqualmie Pass to exit 62. As we went deeper and deeper into the woods we started thinking “We might have been here before.” When we came to the parking area we were sure of it. We didn’t remember the name of the hike or lake when we made the choice for this destination.

Oh well, we are here so we might as well go on the hike.

If you plan to visit this location heed this warning:

From the lower parking area, you’ll notice a small sign pointing toward the Mirror Lake trailhead. Follow the wide, rocky dirt path approximately 0.5 miles to meet the trailhead for Mirror Lake. There is a small parking area adjacent to the trailhead that saves the extra 0.5 mile walk; however, it is strongly recommended that this not be attempted unless you have a jeep or other all-terrain vehicle.

Emphasis added. The road has huge ditches and large rocks in it. It is also overgrown with bushes that will probably scratch your vehicle if you push through them.

We walked the half mile or so to the small parking area adjacent to the trailhead and promptly went on up the hill to the right following the road:

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After we had walked a half mile or so we decided this wasn’t the correct direction to the lake. We saw a lot of pretty flowers and had a nice view so it wasn’t a real loss:

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When we got back to the upper parking area we saw the narrow trail, subtly marked, going down the hill:

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This trail looked more familiar! The trail was a bit narrow and occasionally had obstacles but it was easy to follow:

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There were some very large as well as a lot of normal sized trees:

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We first went to Cottonwood Lake which is about a half mile before Mirror Lake:

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20190707_102552Cottonwood Lake is rather small and we didn’t spend much time there before proceeding on to Mirror Lake:

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It’s a nice mountain lake and we saw a few families hiking out as we were hiking in. They had camped next to the lake for a night or two over the weekend.

Insect repellant is recommended. We didn’t bring any and there were a few mosquitoes which obtained a small snack at our expense.

It was a relatively short, 2.2 miles roundtrip, and pleasant hike but we probably won’t go again unless it was to take someone else on a easy hike.

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