Pratt Lake
Contents
Quick Facts
| Length: | about 11 miles (round trip to the lake) |
| Elevation gain: | 2300 feet |
| Approximate driving time from Seattle: | 1 hour |
| Traffic on the trail: | heavy to Olallie Lake; light beyond |
| Highlights: | Two alpine lakes, good views, Pratt Lake is much less traveled than other trails in the area. |
| Challenges: |
References
| Maps: | |
| Books: | |
| Conditions: | (a reference where people can check current conditions of the trail) |
| On-line references: |
Trail Description
The trail starts just off Exit 47 on I-90, and shares the first mile or so with the Granite Mountain trail. A trail to Talapus Lake branches off after another mile or so. At somewhere around 4 miles, the first view emerges, as the trail follows the side of a ridge north of Olallie Lake. Supposedly Mt. Rainier is visible over the lake on a clear day. At the top of the ridge a trail continues straigth to Mt. Defiance and Mason Lake, but the Pratt Lake trail forks to the left and descends into the Pratt Lake basin, eventually crossing through a large rock slide area before reaching the basin bottom. Here it continues northerly to skirt the east side of Pratt Lake. There should be good views on a clear day. Other trails link beyond, allowing travel further through the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.
Driving Directions
Trip Reports
December 8, 2008
- Participants: Tom and Ben
- Photos: coming soon (?)
Finals weeks is here. That means... we can hike during the week! Plans were afoot to go snowshoeing, likely on Granite Mountain. However, a total lack of snow (c'mon, it's December for cryin' out loud!) turned these plans into plans to hike Granite Mountain sans snowshoes. Then a quick Sunday front dumped snow up there and we simultaneously read that Granite Mountain is an avalanche hotspot and that NWAC had raised the danger level to moderate, so we aimed elsewhere. The weather didn't present any opportunities for big views as far as we could tell, so it was probably best not to undertake a huge climb for limited views. Pratt Lake was a great alternative.
Departure was about 10:15 from Seattle and we left the trail head about 11:25. We encountered snow starting around 3000 feet and soon were walking through 3 inches of new snow, with all the trees still covered. It snows lightly for much of the day. We saw no other hikers and no other hikers' footprints all day. The view over Olallie Lake showed nothing beyond the trees on the far side of the lake, but the snow made the scene quite beautiful. The lake was starting to freeze over in places.
The snow was slightly deeper in the Pratt Lake basin, 4 or 5 inches in places. A short way down the Pratt Lake side of the ridge we encountered relatively fresh (perhaps a few hours old) black bear tracks in the snow on the trail. The tracks followed the trail downhill, leaving it and returning multiple times as it cut off switchbacks. We never saw the bear, but it was a cool "encounter" nonetheless.
Our turnaround point was the first view of Pratt Lake from the trail, since we had used more than half of the time from starting at the trailhead to sunset. The trip back was uneventful, but we noted more snow had melted in the lower elevations than when we had passed through earlier. We arrived back at the trailhead about 4:20, for a 5 hour round trip.
