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The trailhead for the Greider Lakes is in the Spada Basin Watershed, which is managed by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. This means there are some special rules and the area is closed at times, mainly during the winter. Really the only thing to know though is that as you enter the area there is a kiosk where you need to stop and fill out a permit. It’s free and mainly documents your visit but also the permit acknowledges that you understand the rules, which mainly involve Spada Lake, ie. no swimming in Spada Lake, no motors on the lake, no pets in the water, etc…
All of this really has nothing to do with the Greider Lakes other than the fact that the trailhead is also a parking lot with a boat launch that allows you to access Spada Lake.
What is Spada Lake? Well, technically it’s a reservoir more than it is a lake. Spada Lake is a holding lake for the much smaller Lake Chaplain and together they supply ~75% of the drinking water for Snohomish County. There are a number of short hikes in the area to explore the various dams and lakes.
The destination for this hike though was the Greider Lakes. The trail starts out easy enough, as trails around here often do. The first 2+ miles is simply a road walk, although the road has been converted to a trail and has no motor vehicle traffic. There are numerous small streams to cross but nothing that will get your feet wet. There are a couple of larger streams and I’ve always gotten across them ok but the state is in the process of building a couple of foot bridges to cross these and it looks like they should be done this summer. Neither area was a dangerous crossing so I’m not sure why they’re putting all the effort into the bridges.
Maybe it’s part of a longer term effort to renew the trail to Boulder Lake, which is almost impossible to get to at this point. I hiked there in 2018 and apparently they’ve now taken out the logs that were across the river, although I haven’t gone out to check. You can read my review of that hike here. Looking at more recent trail reports it looks like maybe they’re going to renew the trail which would be great because imho Boulder Lake is nicer than either of the Greider Lakes and would be a great overnight destination.
That said, the Greider Lakes are still worthy destinations. There are two lakes, Big Greider and Little Greider. You’ll reach the smaller one first and then it’s only another 1/4 mile to the larger lake. Each has a few campsites. After the road walk you’ll hit the “real” trail and from there it’s another mile and a half to the lakes and it’s a good climb. Other than one major pile of trees that have blown down the trail is in decent shape but you’ll climb over 1,000 feet in the 1 1/2 miles so get ready to huff and puff your way up the mountain. All told I ended up wandering around almost 9.5 miles with over 2,100 feet of elevation gain.
