Miles: 2.8 miles RT
Elevation Gain/Highest: 150ft/3660ft
Map: Green Trails White Pass No. 303, my GAIA
Favorite Eats After Hike: Farelli’s Wood Fire Grill, Alpine Inn, Cliff Droppers, White Pass Taqueria, ,or just Pack A Cooler. You can learn more about these places in my Must Hike Must Eat Eating Out Guide.
Find out current conditions and as always, practice Leave No Trace. Pretty please.
Hike details:
A peaceful wetland lake resting just inside the boundary for Goat Rocks Wilderness, Lily Lake is a gentle stroll, perfect for a day out with the family to experience flora and fauna near White Pass and Mount Rainier. However, the forest road to reach the trailhead is not as gentle, and higher clearance vehicles are advised.
The trail to Lily Lake begins wide and flat on an abandoned road bed then quickly narrows to bisect a forested plateau above the Clear Fork of the Cowlitz River. The quiet surroundings around you make it hard to believe that through the pines to your left passes Highway 12 and below, daring kayakers are challenged with class 5 rapids in the river’s narrow canyon.
Trail structures do their best to keep your feet dry as you pass over a few small seasonal streams with neighboring huckleberry and salmonberry that distract hungry hikers later in the season. White bunchberry dogwood flowers nestle around green lichen spotted nurse logs below rugged hemlock and Douglas fir as you wind along in solitude.
Keep an eye out for boggy Lily Lake on your right in 0.75 miles. As you walk around the northeast side of this enclosed meadow tarn, a clearing will become evident and a forested ridgeline should be visible through the trees. Several boot paths turning right off the main trail may require stepping over a small log or two as you walk 40 to 50 feet towards the lakeshore. Brush thickly lines this body of water and early season often means a muddy approach. Be prepared with waterproof boots or climb upon one of a handful of overturned tree stumps to reach a better view.
Lily Lake can also be accessed from the Clear Lost Trail (#76) trailhead directly on Highway 12 but involves a crossing of Clear Creek and considerably more elevation loss and gain. For a similar lake with a level trail that is accessible by all vehicles and popular for fishing, try the South Swofford Pond Trail near Mossyrock.
My trip report:
I think this hike must be in a few suggested postings like the nearby campground or in the White Pass “hike” guide. My best advice is to find somewhere else to take the family. Unless you want to have fun in your 4×4. For the time it takes to get to this hike, you are better off driving to the Layser Cave or Angel Falls. Even Packwood Lake would make a better option. If I was a kid and my parents took me on this hike promising a lake, I’m not sure I’d trust them to take me on a hike again. Just sayin’.
The first reason to find another hike is the forest road in. The first 7 miles are fine, just a few potholes. The last two miles however are not suitable for your average family vehicle. Not only are there two washout areas narrowing the road that one more good storm will probably make it impassable, there are deep ruts galore.
The last mile? Imagine driving up a steep rocky creek bed. There also were a few spots where the cliff walls along the road have rained boulders on to the sides of the road. And a downed tree cut up but someone left one of the chunks in the middle of the road? I rolled it off a few feet for good measure.
If you decide to brave the road, notice Little Lava Creek that is eating away at the road as you drive along. This will be the only flowing water you will see on this hike. The drive took me about an hour to make the 9 miles of forest road.
The parking lot for Clear Fork Trail #61 was HUGE and must have been fairly popular at some point in the past. There was a handwritten sign posted of a cougar sighting, the author mentions it was not afraid of humans.
The trail starts out on the decommissioned forest road at about 3625 feet. I passed the Goat Rocks Wilderness sign at .25 miles in as I walked among a few clusters of old growth cedars and budding huckleberry. The trail was in good condition with a few muddy spots and tiles of bark discarded from the pines towering overhead.
The woods were thick on both sides, no views of either the Cowlitz River Valley to the left and below or Little Lava Creek to the right. In fact, I completely missed the creek on my way in as it is now stagnant and marshy, waiting for what I imagine will soon be home to swarms of mosquitos.
I began paying attention for Lily Lake when I could see on my GPS I should be parallel to it (a little over a mile) but there was nothing evident through the trees or any side path to the lake. You could easily pass by and not know there was a lake there.
At 1.33 miles, there was an overgrown bootpath covered with down trees that might have been a possibility but it looked to soon disappear so I continued on. I went as far as 1.6 miles in case the approach to the lake came from the other direction but there was no clear trail. I walked in a bit at this point and made it within ten feet of the “lake” which looked overtaken by marsh but was blocked from going out further by brush, swamp and downed trees.
Returning back down the trail, I tried two more spots in that had what might have been a side trail at one point but all quickly disappeared. There didn’t seem to be any point to get close enough to the lake to truly see across it. Maybe later in the season it will be dry enough to make it through the brush but than bugs may be an issue. Seriously, standing there it appeared as if I was looking out at a meadow rather than a lake.
The “best” view I found was at the original 1.33 miles from the trailhead by climbing over some logs and carefully stepping out onto limited dry ground to look up over brush. There was still 30-40 feet of grass out in front of me. I didn’t see much point in staying so I was soon making my way back towards my car to see if it would make it back down the road.
The one redeeming value I will mention again were the old growth cedars, there was a pair of triplets that a child would find fun to climb on and in. But there is a much easier set on the Swofford Pond Trail near Mossyrock you don’t have to risk a busted oil pan for.
I think if you REALLY wanted to get to this lake or hike beyond, you are better off accessing through the Clear Lost trailhead 12 miles further east on HWY 12. It’s not marked well, you will find it just east of a Mt. Rainier viewpoint.
Directions: From Packwood, drive east on Highway 12 for 4.6 miles, then turn south (right) onto Forest Road 46. Drive this road for 9.2 miles to its end and the trailhead. The last two miles are prone to washouts, ruts and steep rocky terrain that require a higher clearance vehicle. The trailhead parking lot is large and without services. A Northwest Forest Pass is required.
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