One of my favorite and go-to winter destinations is Snoqualmie Pass. Just a 1 hour drive (~50 miles) east of Seattle is a winter recreation paradise. This area of Washington is a snowy winter wonderland, often getting a snowpack of above 6 feet of snow each year.
Bring those snowshoes and hiking poles along because you’ll need both for this adventure.
Key Information
- Location: Alpental, Snoqualmie Pass, Washington (I-90)
- Best Season: December to March
- Distance: 5-miles return (from the Alpental trailhead parking lot). Note that snowshoeing takes a longer time to break trail and even use an existing packed down trail. I typically average 1-2 miles per hour for a typical snowshoeing trip, compared to 2-3 mph for backpacking.
- Elevation Gain: approx. 1,000 feet
- Recommended Gear: snowshoes, hiking poles, down jacket, ski gloves, merino wool hat, sunscreen, sunglasses, softshell pants, windproof softshell jacket, gaiters (recommended if fresh snow)
- Tips: Blue sky one minute, stormy conditions the next minute. Be prepared for winter conditions – very changeable weather conditions from November to April in Washington.
There is avalanche risk on the route to Source Lake, so please check with the Northwest Avalanche Center (NWAC) forecasts before you adventure. More ideal NWAC conditions for snowshoeing are “low” or “moderate” risk. Note that these still require familiarity with avalanche terrain, necessary gear and experience.
A good way to help gain that experience for your trip is to take an avalanche awareness course, offered by REI and other outdoors organizations. Often for free. A great investment to help you become more knowledgeable of winter skills for snowshoeing and skiing.
Trip Report
Really tall evergreens grace the landscape that you’ll snowshoe through. The river flowing through the snowy wonderland is always peaceful to watch and admire the beauty of nature.
Really have to keep pushing yourself farther along the trail. But it’s well worth it! The view gets better the farther you go toward Source Lake (typical turn-around point for this snowshoe trip). The view gets better as you go along!
Photography Tip: Use a wide angle lens (such as 16-35mm or 17-40mm on a full frame camera) to get all the forest composed in your frame. Get as close as possible to your subject to provide depth and fill the scene.
Telephoto lenses have their place in your camera backpack, but for snowshoeing, I often find wide-angle lenses that capture the scene well.
Golden light on a section of the river next to the snowshoeing trail caught my attention. I love scenes like this, simple, macro nature scenes.
The winds in these mountains can be intense so a softshell windbreaker jacket will be a great layer above a down jacket. Also, pack a lightweight rain jacket in case that snow turns to freezing rain.
The sheer magnitude of snow and steepness of distant Chair Peak was amazing.
The classic snowy peaks of the Cascades caught my attention, with the foreground of snow-covered curly trees.
Shadows and light play together in perfect harmony in these mountains. I like to get real low to the surface of the snow and compose the shot.
Low angles often make the middle ground (mountain peak in this shot) look more balanced with the foreground and less distant to the viewer. The wispy clouds were a photographer’s dream with deep blue sky and fresh snow.
