By:
Submission
This is a excellent trailhead. There is parking for about a dozen vehicles. There are no restroom facilities. There is a trail map and good signage. The trail is dirt single track. It follows a cascading stream. Crystal Mountain is 4 miles and 3000 vertical feet from the trailhead. An offshoot leads to sourdough gap and lakes. Beautiful views and well groomed trails. Wildflowers and blueberries on side of trail in summer.
This was a hard, not moderate trail for myself and my husband (admittedly not the most in shape). The trail is nearly all elevation gain (2300 ft). The trail spilts halfway to the lakes with an option to go to Crystal peak or to the lakes high up in the crook of the mountains. A few places on the trail were flat or gently sloped but they were few and very far between. Then of course the way back down is tricky for ankles and knees, being all downhill. The lakes are beautiful, the scenery is spectacular, and I was happy to discover so many late in the season wildflowers and of course huckleberries! There is a toilet at Lower Crystal lake as well as a few marked campsites.
Take plenty of water! Both of us had emptied 32oz water bottles and didn't have any backups in our car. The journey home included stopping to refill on water.
Great trail, but be prepared for lots of up. The creek at the start is neat, but you won't see water again until the lakes at the top. A couple views of Rainier on the way up, but it is not visible from either lake. Perhaps if you continue on or take the other fork.
It's 3.5 miles one way, with a 2000ft elevation gain. So you are climbing up the entire time. Bring plenty of water and start early in the morning. As you want to be heading back down before high noon when the bugs come out. Your basically just doing switchbacks up the side of the mountain the entire time.
I honestly liked the Sheep Lake/Sour Dough Gap hike better. Which is on the other side of the mountain. You start at a higher altitude, so the elevation gain isn't as rough. You can stop at Sheep Lake, or, if your fit enough, climb up and threw Sour Dough Gap and get a great view of Crystal Lake. So you have the option of doing an easier or harder hike.
Also, though Sheep Lake isn't as big as Crystal Lake. The water is moving through it more quickly, so not as much standing water. Crystal Lake had WAY more bugs.
You also get a great view of Mount Rainier over Crystal Lake from the Sour Dough Gap hike. This home, the Mountis to your back, and covered by trees except for one small spot.
We did this hike passing it, in winter time and with the snow in complemented the scenery of the whole landscape would have been cool to see it in the summer time cool that there is 2 trails there very well kept up trial to
