Last month, I hiked the Lake 22 trail with two of my girlfriends Satya and Panky.This will be one of the most memorable hikes of this summer for two reasons.

One,it was my first girls only hiking trip and two,for someone who rarely drives on the freeway,I drove us at speed of 75-80 mph to and from the hike on a busy freeway,Yay🎉(under the expert guidance of Satya).

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On June 19th at about 7.15 am the three of us left for the hike in my van.We reached the trailhead around 8.15 am to find the parking lot full.

Luckily for us we found a parking spot at a nearby Hemple Creek picnic area.

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Some facts, Lake 22 Trail is a 5.8 mile trip out and back that opens to the gorgeous Lake 22.This lake is part of an alpine wetland nestled on the shoulder of Mount Pilchuck.

Rated moderate, this trail took us about 3.5 hours to complete not counting 30 mins we spent gazing the lake.

For seasoned hikers ,this an easy 2.5-3 hour hike,we however took our sweet time doing the uphill,stopping for selfies and water breaks.😜

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Low on sleep but high in spirit we started the hike at 8.30 am.

Unlike the earlier hikes like the Rattlesnake Ledge or Coal creek this well maintained trail soon turned into a muddy mountain rainforest trail with slippery stones at every turn.

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While Satya and I have been hiking all this summer ,it was Panky’s first hike of the year and boy was she in for a surprise!

The hike tested her grit and patience all in one day 😁 but she didn’t give up!

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1.7 miles in to the trail, we encountered the landslide,It was go up or go home! Thankfully some good Samaritans had left a rope to help other hikers maneuver their way up this muddy slide.

It was an adrenaline rushing experience not recommended for the fainthearted.

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The photos do no justice to the rope climbing experience,it wasn’t as easy at it looks!I mean even the dogs were having a tough time climbing this muddy slope.😛

Once up we continued on the shaded muddy trail before hitting the ankle twisting jagged rocks and boulders.

This in my opinion was the most tiring and challenging part of the trail, the hot blaring sun didn’t help either!The only savior here was the majestic view of the forest.

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Unfortunately 5 mins on the rocks, Satya suffered a fall and ended up hurting her knee.Satya being Satya had come fully prepared with first aid.

She pulled out a bottle Magnesium spray,applied it generously around her wounds and 5 mins later was ready to hike on!

This is where we wished we had proper hiking boots on,it would have made things easier for us.

I felt for tiny chihuahua who was doing his best hopping from one rock to another, silently praying for his life 😂 or rather that was me reflecting my state of mind on him 🤣.

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It was a relief to be back in the cool shades of the old forest 25 minutes later.This trail is consistently rocky/rooty including hiking a shallow stream bed !

One injured soul and 1.30 hours later we seemed to be no closer to the lake!

This is where you start cursing yourself and if that wasn’t enough this spirited hiker almost killed us with “You have about 3/4 of the trail left!”.

All hope was lost now 😂😂,I mean how were we even going to complete this?!

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But guess what? The hiker probably didn’t understand our question because 15 minutes later when we met another old couple and posed the same question and they said “You made it! The lake is right there!”

We had been so dispirited after the first response that none of us realized that we had actually reached the lake.

I will let the pictures say the rest , I mean look at the girls!! Two hours into the hike and we had reached the stunning Lake 22.

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Look at that stunning gorgeous beauty of a lake ! We spent good 30 minutes on the lake and taking tons of pictures.

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Some the hikers continued hiking their way through the snow,completing the loop around the lake.

Well we decided to just chill and enjoy the view we had worked so hard for 🤩.

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Way back was much easier,the boulders were crossed slowly and cautiously and when we hit the landslide,I walked down the slope, the girls literally slid down the muddy trail 😆.

It took us 1.30 to get down. All along, we stopped for pics yet again 😜.

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At 12.30 pm, 4 hours since we first started the hike we were finally back in the van.

The story doesn’t end here, you see all along the trail we had no signal and that’s cool! But the thing is,before leaving home we may have told our better halves that we would be back home latest by 11am😮.

So you can imagine the chaos when we finally got the signal,phones went crazy buzzing!Their happiness was short lived though,we confirmed no one was lost and they would seeing us soon😂🤣.

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Applauding ourselves on conquering this trail, we promised ourselves another hike before the summer ends 🙃.What do you think?Will we do it?? While you at it ,here is a thought for you…

“In life, it’s not where you go, it’s who you travel with.” – Charles Schulz.