Heather Lake: A gorgeous hike near Seattle featuring fall foliage
Length: 4.6 miles, roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 1034 feet
Highest Point: 2430 feet
Location: Mountain Loop Highway
Parking Pass: NW Forest Pass
Dog-Friendly: Yes
Happy Fall Y’all! It may be October, but it is still relatively warm outside.
These crisp, sunny, fall days always push me to get outside.
The weather this weekend was set to be sunny and 65 degrees. Yes, you read that right. It is October in the PNW, it is going to be sunny and it will be relatively warm outside. With that, I knew I needed to be outside.
I opened up my laptop and typed in WTA, as I always do and stumbled upon Heather Lake. WTA stands for Washington Trails Association and it is my go-to website for all hikes in Washington state. After using their search engine, Heather lake seemed very doable for this time of year, promising a few pops of fall foliage at the top.
We arrived at the parking lot at 9 AM to grab a good parking spot and avoid the masses of hikers who come out on weekends. If you are coming from Seattle, it will take you about an hour and a half to reach the trail head.
Pro-tip: if you’re using a smartphone map app, always type in the name of your hike followed by trailhead to get the specific location of where you’re going.
For example, for this hike, I typed in Heather Lake Trail Head. Otherwise, your map app can (and will) sometimes inadvertently lead you in the wrong direction and have you driving up random forest service roads, rather than to the actual trailhead.
The last city you will drive through is Granite Falls. If you do not already have a Northwest Forest Pass, then stop and grab one here. They sell day passes for $5 or annual passes for $30. The US forest service is kind enough to have a section on their website, here to help you locate a place that sells passes. You can easily search by city, choose Granite Falls and viola! Your search is complete and you will be on your way in no time.
And by on your way in no time, I mean… on your way after a slow and bumpy ride. Once you turn up the road to Pilchuck Access Road, FR 42 you have about 1.4 miles to go that will seem like 10 if you drive a low-clearance vehicle. My little Subaru has a very low front-end so you know that I had to take this drive carefully. This road is the worst road I have ever driven on, I kid you not one bit. There were over 30 pot holes that take up the entire road. Thank goodness the section of potholes is only a mile long, otherwise, I would not recommend this trail or drive to anyone. Now please, if you are going to hike Heather lake, drive the truck, drive the SUV. If you’re like me and don’t have one, drive 5 mph or less and keep your eyes peeled. Otherwise, you will indeed ruin your car.
Wear layers, as it is VERY chilly up top. The leaves were encrusted in a layer of ice and the wooden planks were pretty icy so keep an eye out for that. Hiking boots, an extra fleece and you are set!
Now that we have all of that boring stuff out of the way… Enjoy your hike!
