Day Hike to Copper Lake

July 11, 2009

We came to the Foss Lakes in the Alpine Lakes region years ago when we were visiting a good friend here in Seattle. We had never hiked to an alpine lake before, and the vision of the translucent green lakes surrounded by mountains and covered with ripe blueberries stayed with us as we contemplated a move to Seattle. So, we decided to revisit our camping spot at Copper Lake on a day hike.

A few things have changed since our last visit -- there was a big rock slide, and there was a sign that said the trail is no longer being officially maintained. This meant a lot of overgrowth on the trail, making it tricky to keep your feet on the path in narrow spots, and some blowdowns. So a lot of extra rocks and vegetation made for a wilder, rougher go of it.

Still, I think this is one of my favorite hikes -- I love lakes, and this hike has one after another. The trail begins as a rocky creek bed, hits a river crossing at .5 mile (we had no problem but I've read this crossing can be tricky at times), and drops you at Trout Lake at 1.5 miles.

It's a good idea to enjoy Trout Lake for a few minutes, because after Trout Lake you hit some gruesome switchbacks, which bring you up 2000 feet to Lake Malachite and then Copper Lake. The trail continues on to Little Heart Lake, Big Heart Lake, and Angeline Lake, but for us, Copper Lake made a fine turnaround point for a day hike.

We met an old timer at the lake out hiking by himself. He must have been in his 70s. He was telling us all about the plants to watch out for in the Northwest. (Oh Devil's Claw -- I see now how you earned the name!) We kind of kept an eye on him at a stream crossing on the way down, but he made it across just fine. Seeing him got me thinking about how I hope I'm still out hiking the big mountains when I'm his age.

The rough terrain made the descent a little trickier than normal, in addition to already being tired from the hike up. I did this in trial runners, but was wishing I had worn boots. We felt pretty wrung out -- but happy -- by the end of it. I'd love to do another backpacking trip here, taking a weekend to explore all the lakes.

Directions: Drive US 2 east to the small town of Skykomish. Continue east for 1.9 miles (passing the Forest Service ranger station), and turn right onto Foss River Road (Forest Road 68). Continue for 4.7 miles (the pavement ends at 1.1 miles), turning left onto FR 6835. Follow this road for 1.9 miles to its end and the trailhead (elev. 1550 ft).