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Lake Serene is another of the hikes I do often as a sort of training hike. Yesterday was the first time this year I’ve hiked all the way to the lake though so I thought I’d briefly mention it.
The Lake Serene trailhead is about five miles east of Gold Bar on Highway 2, just before reaching the turnoff to Index. The trailhead itself is an easy 1/2 mile off the highway on a fairly well maintained gravel road. Parking requires a Northwest Forest Pass or similar national parks pass.
The first mile and a half of the hike is on an old logging/mining road which although not quite a railroad grade is still not a strenuous hike. There are some fallen trees to cross but they aren’t difficult to get over. This is a theme all along the trail. Not a lot of trail maintenance has taken place since Covid started so the trail has multiple obstacles over the course of it.
There is a definite point on the trail where you can tell you’ve crossed the line from old road to trail and from here the trail becomes considerably more challenging. After another quarter mile or so you come to a fork. Going to the right will take you to Bridal Veil Falls, which is totally worth the hike. The falls is maybe 75 feet high and cascades down the rock in a fan shape. Just going to the falls and back would be around 4 miles in total and is a great standalone hike if you don’t feel like going to the lake. I would recommend that if you want to go to both the falls and lake, do the falls first because inevitably you’ll be too tired and decide to skip it if you go to the lake first.
Staying left at the fork is the main trail and will take you to Lake Serene. It’s a beautiful but strenuous hike. Along the way you’ll see numerous water falls (and have to cross several streams which can usually be done without getting your feet wet, especially if you’re using hiking poles).
After the fork you’ll cross a couple of streams, including a pool with another smaller waterfall, and then the work begins. From that point until around 1/2 mile from the lake is nothing but switchbacks with roots, rocks and stairs. You will sweat! The payoff is totally worth it though. Lake Serene is one of the more beautiful lakes around, with towering cliffs surrounding it. Right now there is still about three feet of snow at the lake but as long as you stay on the packed part of the trail there isn’t a lot of post-holing. There was a bit of avalanche activity on the slopes on the opposite side of the lake but most of the snow has come off the rocks at this point, as evidenced by the snow collected at the bottom of the snow chutes.
Round trip to just the lake (excluding Bridal Veil Falls) is 7.3 miles with almost 2,300 feet of elevation gain. Tack on another 1+ mile if you go to the falls as well. It’s a workout but is well worth the effort. Be aware that Wallace Falls and Lake Serene are probably the two most popular hikes along the Highway 2 corridor so this is a very busy place on the weekend.
[…] do the hike to Bridal Veil. I won’t go into much detail about the overall hike since you can read more here. What I can confirm is that just going directly to the falls and back will net you almost exactly […]