Trip Report
Day Hike - Pete Lake
Lovely, mostly flat hike along the river to a beautiful lake. Fall brings solitude, frogs and red berries.
Linda Shewey
- Wed, Sep 23, 2020
- Day Hike - Pete Lake
- Pete & Spectacle Lakes
- Day Hiking
- Successful
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- Road rough but passable
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The last mile to the trailhead is the only rough road, with several deep potholes, but manageable. Fairly large parking area, with privy available. Trail is shared use (horses, bikes) so there are some horse piles to walk around, but we only saw one other person on the trail while we were there. When rainy, water collects in the middle of the trail, with some large puddles to skirt around. There were several shallow stream crossings t
hat required some rock hopping.
Don't let the rain get you down! After filling out our Alpine Lakes Wilderness day permit, our group headed out on the Pete Lake trail in late September on a midweek rainy day. There were a few cars parked in the parking lot when we arrived, but with the exception of one person (in hunting garb), we didn't see another soul the entire trip, so had lovely solitude for our hike. The trail was lined with small needles from Western Hemlock trees, but with the rain during the day, some pretty large puddles and rivulets developed, which ran down the middle of the trail. This allowed us the opportunity to exercise our inner thigh muscles as we jumped laterally from one side of the trail to the other over the water in between.
Due to the wet conditions, we set out to have a slug competition, to see who could spot the most interesting slugs along the way...but we only saw one slug! Instead, we were surprised by a toad (our trip mascot) and several tiny green tree frogs.
The trail parallels the Cooper River for much of the way, which was very lush and green.
When we got to the lake, it was covered with mist and very beautiful. There are several nice campsites near the lake, but none were occupied.
We found some dry spots under trees for our lunch and enjoyed the antics of an American Dipper hopping from rock to rock along the shoreline.
Fall colors!
On the way back, we noticed several varieties of plants with red berries: bunchberries, false Solomon's seal and ninebark
We even stopped to get a picture with the elephant we met along the way
This was a lovely fall hike made memorable by the rainy conditions and the fun we had discovering the surprising gifts that nature provided for us along the way.
Happy hiking,
Linda Shewey