Miles: 3 miles RT
Elevation Gain/Highest: 1000/5520ft
Map: Green Trails Wenatchee/Mission Ridge 211S
Favorite Eats After Hike: I stopped at the Rail Station in Wenatchee and picked up a salad to go.
Find out current conditions and as always, practice Leave No Trace. Pretty please.
Hike details:
Clara and Marion Lakes are a family friendly, golden larches hike in the fall and a year round alpine getaway accessible from Mission Ridge outside the town of Wenatchee in Eastern Washington.
My trip reports:
10/16/2021
After busting our butts with 6000 feet of gain on Purple Pass and Boulder Butte two weeks ago in Stehekin, I am not ashamed to say we strolled up to Clara and Marion Lakes for a few more moments with the golden larches.
We car camped close by the night before and started in the dark with no cars in the parking lot. The sun was just beginning to turn the sky pink and blue as we reached Clara, the water level was much lower than when I was here in May. I had hoped there was a pit toilet over where the camping is in the trees but alas no, it was trowel time. That disappointment was only matched by how many young trees have been hacked down in there for firewood. I would think with such a short trail, you could easily haul in a few purchased logs instead.
Anyway, we continued on to Marion which was even lower, so much so I would have confused it for a tarn if I had not seen it in the spring. But oh, the golden larches! We scrambled up to the basalt field above and watched the sunrise with hot coffee in hand. This area is so unique and we had it to ourselves for about an hour to admire. How the rock has fractured into interesting features and how the larches have made this “barren” land home.
Some of the larch trees are mammoth in comparison to younger ones earlier on the trail and when you reach about 5700 feet in elevation you can look back and see the entire Wenatchee Valley and the Columbia River off in the distance with the larches in the foreground. So beautiful!
We headed back down the trail and saw our first person about 9am, followed by a steady stream of groups coming up from the parking lot (about 30 cars when we got back down). We spotted a small grove of elderberry after leaving Clara and picked a few for making scones back home. Having now visited Clara and Marion in spring and fall, I hope to return this winter for snowshoeing!
5/22/2021
I did some car camping near Mission Ridge and in the morning, ventured up to the end to the road as I had not been here before. Spying a trailhead near the parking lot gate, I realized I was at Clara and Marion Lakes. I knew the trail was short and I had a map, so off I went.
I knew this is better known as a larch hike but the wildflowers were just right! The trillium and glacier lilies were everywhere! There were even a few balsam root.
Patches of snow on the trail started at about 5,200 feet and continued off and on until Clara Lake but were not an issue. I arrived at the outlet for Clara and could hear a family camping in the trees on the right.
I knew that Marion carried around to the left so I walked up and around the lake then turned left and up away from the lake. Snow mostly obscured the trail at first but then was spotty.
Just before Marion there were two trees across the trail, one was easy to step over but limbs on the second was causing most to walk around on neighboring blueberry.
Marion Lake presented itself at 5,520 feet and 1.5 miles up from the trailhead. I walked past the spur down to the “island” and around where there was a view of what I think was Mission Peak. Snow still lingered on the slope and I was surprised by all the slate and piles of volcanic rock. I had the lake to myself for awhile.
I scrambled around a bit past Marion until I heard the voices (hoops and hollers) of a group crossing over to the island and then I began my trip down. Somehow leaving Marion I ended up on another trail that turned and followed more closely to the creek leaving Marion. It was an actual path but was overgrown in spots, I could I was going to intersect the main trail eventually so I did not turn around. It brought me out just down from the stream crossing before Clara on an unmarked junction. It was about 3.2 miles round trip and a little over 2 hours.
Directions: The Clara and Marion Lakes trailhead is found at the same parking lot for the Mission Ridge Ski Area. From Wenatchee, take State Highway 285 and the exit for Mission St. For 12 miles, follow signs for the Mission Ridge Ski Area. At approximately 8 miles stay to the right (Squilchuck State Park on left). The trailhead is on the right, no pass is needed.
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