Meadow Pass to Mirror Lake

One of my favorite places to go camping is up Meadow creek and Meadow Pass up need Snoqualmie Pass.  So after our hike to Mirror lake by the Mirror Lake trail I decided to go over the maps and guide books and to try something a little more challenging for the two of us.

I looked over green trails map #207 and noticed that from Meadow Pass you can take a little know trail called Stirrup Lake trail down from the pass to where it crossed the Pacific Crest Trail and then follow the PCT all the way to Mirror Lake.  Per the map it looked like it would be a little over 8 or 9 miles round trip.  Now Molly had done the 4 miles on the Mirror Lake tail with no problems so, I thought she would be up to this one as well.

Meadow Pass Trail head

So on August 21st we headed out of Seattle and up I-90 to Meadow Pass and the Stirrup Lake Trail Head.  The day was perfect sunny clear sky's with not a cloud to be seen.

The drive took just a little over an hour for us to arrive.  It is always fun for me to watch Molly on these types of trips.  She is all curled up on the drive up there but as soon as we start getting close like off of the freeway she is up and the nose goes to work at once.  I can see her getting more excited the closer we get.  She knows that her time for play is getting really close and I know she can't wait to get out of the car and have at it.


Off to the right here you can see my little red car and Molly doing her thing. The Trail heads into the woods right in front of the car.  So once my little girl had taken care of her business we were off and down the trail...

The Meadow Pass Pond

One of the first places you pass is this little pond off to the right of the trail.  The first thing you notice at this time is that there is always a ton of mosquito's at this point and if you forgot the bug spray you won't the next time you go.  It is one of the things I have learned to always have with me these days.  I have been using Off "Deep Woods" this year and have been really happy with it.  It works wonders at keeping the little pests away.

Stirrup Lake

From here the trail winds down though some second growth forest for about a half mile till you arrive at the west end of Stirrup Lake. We continued down the trail along the south side of the lake until we reached a camp sight at the west end.  Here we found an abundance of blue berry's just begging to be tried.  they were sweet and juicy and available by the hand fulls.  Great way to get breakfast on the trail. The only problem I had was that the bugs were in full force hear and were so determined that I should be there breakfast that we only stayed for a moment before heading on.

On the PCT
looking back at
the Stirrup Lake  Trail

Now according to the map it is only about a half mile on down the trail till you run across the PCT were I would be heading north and up to Mirror Lake.  The fun of it all was that as the Stirrup Lake trail may provide for your solitude and give you a chance to be alone unlike the more popular trails it has one problem in that it is not very well kept up.  So following the trail from the pass down and along the lake to that camp site is no problem. But once you are past there the trail changes as you head out into a more recently logged section.  Here you may find all the blue berry's you desire but they do have a tendency to grow over the trail obscuring it.  So if you really have to pay attention to where you are heading.  The good part about it is that if you get off the trail your not far from the PCT which runs north and south.  So all you do is take a western bearing and you will end up on the PCT shortly.



Once we were on the PCT and I was once again sure of where we were we turned north. Off through a little section of old growth woods which was nice as the day was starting to get hot already and the shade that the trees provided after bush whacking it through all the blue berry's.  At about a mile we crossed stirrup creek and stared the first up hill section.  It wasn't long till we came out onto national forest development road 118 that leads up to the pass where we started. Once we crossed we were into a much more recently clear cut area were the sun beats down on you as you head up along eastern side of Meadow mountain.

Old growth forest
off the eastern ridgeof Meadow Mountain

Once you cross the eastern ridge of Meadow Mountain you get to cool of in another section of old growth firs with Fox glove all around truely wonderful.


At about 3.3 miles from the trail head we came to our first real climbing going from 3557ft elevation to just over 4000 in less then one mile.  Now if you have not been out and getting exercise you will be feeling it by the time you get to the top of this ridge.  But don't worry because what goes up must go down.

Down we went and in about 7 tenths of a mile we where back down to 3500 elevation once again but also we had arrived at Yakima Pass and what is called Twilight Lake.

Here we took a short break as I love to take pictures and this was one not to be missed. Of-course as there is plenty of boggy ground with mud holes that Molly just had to go and cool off in.


Now that we were rested and  Molly was all muddy and stinky we were ready to tackle that last climb up to Mirror Lake that was only a little 800+ feet above us.  It was as we were making our way up that Molly started to get tiered  she was still leading the way but not as exuberantly as before.

The good part of this section of the trail is that there is plenty of water which Molly was more then eager to lap up.  The bad part is that the trail is rocky and out in the open great for the views but hot when the sun is out.

It was in this section that i was starting to worry that we might have to turn back for Molly's sake but it was about this time the we came across a couple that was also heading up to the lake that had a chocolate lab.  Molly perked right up and wanted to play right away taking my worry's with her.

So we made that last of our accent to Mirror Lake were we found a good spot on the south end to have our lunch before heading back.


To the left is the view we had of Tinkham Peak across Mirror Lake.

After lunch and a short break it was time to head back. So back down the trail we headed.  The one thing I learned about my little girl Molly is that once she is tiered it is my time to lead.

So lead the way home I did...  I only made one detour in our route and that was when we got back to the RD 118 instead of taking a chance on loosing the trail heading up to Stirrup lake we followed the road back that last mile and a half.

All in all Molly was a great little trooper and we had a great time.  But I know she was glad when we got home and took a couple days of rest to get back to her normal self.  Well so did I!!!

Meadow Pass To Mirror Lake

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