Distance: 14 mi.
Elevation Gain: 4500 ft. (5400 ft. descent)
Having been past the Rock Mountain and Merritt Lake trailheads more than a dozen times on Route 2, I had often wondered if it was possible to do a quick thru-hike since the trailheads are so close to one another. When Virginia, who lives in Leavenworth, suggested an overnight backpacking trip, I immediately thought of this trip since leaving from Leavenworth would make for an easier car shuttle. We left Leavenworth around 8:30 AM and reached the Rock Mountain TH around 9. There are only a handful of spots at this TH but with it being a Friday we weren’t too worried about it, and we were the 3rd car parked there. We drove together to the Merritt Lake TH, which was maybe a 15 to 20 minute shuttle. The Merritt Lake TH road was overgrown and rutted in spots but no problem in a small SUV. We got hiking just after 9:30.
The beginning of the trail climbed through a pretty, shaded forest at a manageable incline. We reached the trail crossing with the Nason Ridge Trail, which we were intending to take the following day, at 11 AM. It didn’t take much longer to reach Merritt Lake, where we enjoyed a solitary lunch. Although we mulled over several options for our overnight trip, we decided to have a short first day so that we could camp at Lost Lake. We briefly lost the trail when we headed northeast from Merritt Lake through the campsites, but then easily picked it up again. Although this is technically a fisherman’s trail, it was easy to follow the whole way. It climbed 500 feet to a pretty meadowy area and then steeply descended 500 feet back down to Lost Lake. This trail had a couple downed trees and hand over foot climbs, but wasn’t difficult at this time of year. However, I can imagine it being very tricky if it was wet or snowy in early season. We reached the lake at 1 PM and didn’t see another soul all day.
Lost Lake had a couple nice campsites at the boulder field just above the lake, a couple mediocre spots closer to lake level on the southeast side, and then one super primo spot at the beachy area just above the lake. I have read one trip report mentioning a campsite on the farther (north) side of the lake, but I have no idea how you’d get over there. There were no obvious trails.
Virginia and I spent the rest of the day enjoying some well deserved R&R while our children were in the care of others (shout out to our husbands James and Craig!!). Virginia did some journaling and I listened to an audiobook most of the day. Supposedly this is a fabulous alpine lake for trout fishing, but we didn’t bring any fishing gear. When I asked Virginia if she had any grocery requests before the hike, she had exactly one wish: a canned Old Fashioned. Amazingly, Craig found two options at the Northgate Total Wine & More. We started happy hour at 4 PM and sipped on our cocktails while making a lovely couscous meal featuring TJ’s Artichokes on the Go. (Which I only mention because I was introduced to this decadent backcountry side this summer.) Afterward, we called it an early evening but did both take opportunities overnight to admire the amazing stars above the lake.
It should be noted that our tent was completely soaked in dew in the morning, and I kind of wished I had brought my winter sleeping bag as the mist settled in overnight. After an extremely slow morning featuring a rock skipping session, we finally packed up and headed back up the fisherman’s trail a bit before 10 AM. The meadows above the lake, filled with huckleberry bushes turning bright red and orange, were very pretty in the late morning light. We reached Merritt Lake again a bit before 11 but decided to continue on since it was quite busy with day hikers by this time. Just before reaching the trail split to the Nason Ridge Trail, Virginia looked down and noticed that the sole of her right boot was completely delaminating in the front, leaving that floppy toe look from the cartoons. We managed to hold her boot together which some medical tape and, after briefly discussing the possibility of simply hiking back out on the Merritt Lake trail, decided to turn right (southwest) into the unknown on the Nason Ridge Trail.
This trail was significantly less traveled than the Merritt Lake trail and even the Lost Lake trail. It was overgrown but overall easy to follow, except for one blowdown section where we missed a switchback. It was definitely helpful to have a GPS track to refer to. The ridge mostly climbed gently throughout the day and we reached Crescent Lake a bit after 1 PM. We stopped there for lunch and then continued south past a couple boggy areas.
As we reached the ridge around Rock Lake, we had almost no tree cover and had somewhat challenging sidehilling (considering the broken boot) along steep scree. The views to the south were very pretty, and there were fall colors all around. Virginia had a seat to check out her boot and was appalled to realize that the other boot was delaminating also. While I tried to maintain my composure, Virginia almost had an actual lightbulb pop on over her head as she decided to put her extra pair of socks on over her boots to hold them together. We had a looong way down from here of about 3400 ft, past a couple tricky downed logs, but luckily we made it to Rock Mountain TH without further disaster. At this time of day the slope below Rock Mountain was largely shaded, which was very nice. We bumped into a couple people doing day hikes and saw one tent at Rock Lake. We had hoped to run up Rock Mountain, but had started too late and were too scared of tempting fate.
This was a great trip, but after looking at the GPS I think it may have been more fun, and similar mileage, to exit at the Snow Creek TH. However, it would have been a longer car shuttle. It could also be fun to extend the thru-hike east to the Round Mountain TH. The possibilities are endless! Hoping to return soon to this pretty, permit-free area.
(Download the free Gaia GPS app on your phone to view tracks and then get a Gaia GPS membership if you want offline access. Discount below!)
Recommended brew cocktail: Tip Top Old Fashioned
Gear:
- Backpacking tent
- Bear canister
- GPS
- Hiking boots (Virginia)/busted
- Overnight pack
- Sleeping pad
- Summer sleeping bag (kinda wished I had my winter one)
- Stove
- Trail runners (Vanessa)
- Trekking poles
- Water filter
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