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Cold Creek - Silver Peak Loop
July 6, 2003
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Twin Lakes from the PCT
The Twin Lakes are visible almost 1,400 feet below the Pacific Crest Trail. Roaring Ridge (both peaks around 4,900 feet) towers above the lakes.
The girls needed to head to Ikea and the weather was too good to spend in the lowlands so I dragged Carl (Amy's father), Clara, and Tokul on a short hike to Twin Lakes just east of Snoqualmie Pass. It took only 15 minutes to hike the level eight tenths of a mile so what else could we do but tackle the rest of the Cold Creek - Silver Peak Loop? After all, it was only another 6.5 miles and 1,600 feet of gain.
Unfortunately, we didn't open the book to see that we should have attacked the loop in a counter-clockwise direction. As a result, we climbed a brutal 1,400 feet in 1.7 miles of non-stop switchbacks (34 in all) to the junction with the PCT. We turned west below Tinkham Peak, still another 900 feet above us, and then north below Silver Peak. Although there is a trail that climbs to the summit at 5,605 feet that was left for another day.
We did do a little bit of exploring and "discovered" Lake Clara just a few feet above the trail. Yeah, it isn't really named "Lake Clara" and it's just a seasonal lake that will dry up soon. It was a beautiful, crystal clear lake that almost seduced all four of us into a swim. Tokul was the only one that gave in, however.
The rest of the trail was an easy downhill to Olallie Meadow, a quick road walk to the Mt. Catherine trailhead, then a final mile and three quarters back to Twin Lakes and the car. From there it was a non-stop trip to the North Bend Starbucks along with a few million other east-west commuters returning from their Fourth of July holidays.
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