Denny Creek to Lake Melakwa Hike

On Saturday morning, Kevin and I headed up to Snoqualmie Pass to go backpacking on this great trail. It heads up Denny Creek, passing a couple of lovely waterfalls, up to Lake Melakwa, which is a picturesque alpine lake situated in valley with peaks on three sides. It was truly gorgeous. It is supposed to be a pretty popular hike, but we encountered very few people on the hike itself, and while there were a handful of day hikers about, there were only a couple other folks staying the night there like us. The hike up was nice, if a little bit of a puffer. It was about 4.5 miles with a 2300 foot elevation gain. Fortunately, it was totally beautiful scenery, and Kevin and I had lots to talk about as always, so that kept our minds off of the grade!

Testing out my new sleeping bag! Super warm!

Getting ready to hit the trail, bright and early!

The trail took us right underneath I-90, which was a very odd experience!

About a mile in is this natural waterfall that is great for kids to play in. It looked fun, but we didn't get wet.



Stopping for a snack on the trail

A good sittin' log!

He's the incredible shrinking man!

Arrival on Lake Melakwa, how gorgeous!

Home sweet home!


I immediately found a reading nook, and parked myself in the fleeting sunshine!

The cold set in

Look at him pumping yummy creek water!

Cooking dinner...well, all I really did was stir, but who's counting?

Yum!



Hanging the bear bag

The next day we went on a little day hike to try to get up to the saddle between the peaks seen below. Unfortunately, we didn't make it all the way as the trail basically disappeared from beneath our feet. But it was fun climbing over rocks!


Kevin decided he had to jump in the crisp alpine lake. He couldn't resist. Crazy man!



By the way, that was 4 different takes. He jumped in 4 times!!!

We headed out in the late afternoon after a great afternoon of reading and relaxing in the glorious sunshine.

It was a great hike, and we can't wait to go out again. Now that I have my snuggly warm sleeping bag, we're thinking we'll try to get one more trip in before winter! Woohoo!