CHS 2 Hike - Thunder Mountain Lakes

This is a serious August hike--  while a lot of the distance is smooth PCT trail, both the beginning (Tunnel Creek to PCT) and the top (PCT to Thunder Mtn Lakes) are steep, rooty, rocky, gnarly bits of trail. This is on the upper end of technical challenges for a hike.

On the top part of the trail there are a few Spicy Steps (big steps you'll probably want to pull yourself up on and probably go down facing the rock) and a couple of smallish rock field traverses (100-200 feet). There's a good possibility of some residual snow, so trekking poles are absolutely required, and traction devices would not be a bad idea. 

The area around the lake is very fragile alpine tundra, and heavy backpacking use has left a lot of scars. Please stick to the main trails once we're up top and avoid going off trail to prevent further damage to the delicate ecosystem. 

We’ll meet at 6:00 am at the Bothell Park and Ride (10303 Woodinville Dr, GPS 47.76095, -122.20180) looking to be driving by 6:15. Trailhead parking is TIGHT, so carpooling and consolidating to fewer cars is encouraged.

Permits: NW Forest Pass/America the Beautiful Pass (parking is on national forest land).

Trailhead Coordinates:  The Tunnel Creek trailhead is at GPS 47.71304, -121.10754. The road to the trailhead is NF-6095, and you can only turn onto it from Eastbound Hwy 2-- if you miss the turn you'll have an extra 10 minutes of driving to loop the whole way around. So drivers pay attention! When you get to the C-shaped turn that's about 3 miles from Stevens pass, slow down and keep your eyes open. The road to the trailhead is pretty rough but can be handled with care by most cars.