Bridal Veil Falls, Lake Serene & Mt. Index

Bridal Veil Falls, Lake Serene & Mt. Index - July 10th, 2014

Central Cascades - Stevens Pass - West
Mileage: 8.2 mi./13.2 km (Round Trip)
Elevation Gain: 2000 ft. / 609.6m
Highest Point: 2521 ft. / 768.4m
Dogs: Allowed
Difficulty: Moderate
Required Pass: Northwest Forest Pass

About the Author:

My name is Koko, I am from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and I lived in Seattle for half a year for my studies abroad. I study Urban Studies and my interests are in creating livable and sustainable cities. I met Chris and Allison through my Seattle roommates Jesse, Angela and Katie. They introduced me to hiking and made me miss the mountains since the day I moved back to Amsterdam.

Contact information:
herder.koko@gmail.com

Bridal Veil Falls, Lake Serene & Mt. Index

It was a beautiful sunny summer day, perfect for a relaxed day hike. Already the route we drove from Seattle to the trailhead was breathtaking, especially when we exited the interstate and had a fantastic view on Mt. Baker on our left and Mt. Rainier on our right. Coming from a country where the highest ‘mountain’ is 323 meters or 1059 ft. high (we call it a mountain indeed), these snow-covered Washington mountains impressed me a lot. Today we, Chris, Allison, Jaxx, Daniel, Katie and I, hiked up to Bridal Veil Falls and Lake Serene in the central Cascades. This hike is not too difficult and brings you to some amazing places.

From the parking lot the trail quickly enters a forest and starts climbing. We first hiked up to Bridal Veil Falls, which is a pretty steep climb. The website of the WTA recommends you do the detour to the falls on your way to the lake as it is too easy to skip the steep climb when the trailhead is so close on the way back. True that. The falls are beautiful and it is incredible to see the power with which the water clatters on the rocks. You can hear the falls from afar. At the falls the trail makes a sort of loop and the upper part of the loop brings you close to the falls. Since it was such a warm day it was perfect to cool off here for a bit. Do not forget to turn around at this point to also enjoy the scenic view.

We continued our way up to Lake Serene. The trail led us through some dense vegetation. The sun was shining through the green and brown-red-ish leaves of the trees, which was absolutely stunning. The mountains around us were all perfectly green, with some snowy tops on the horizon. We had to stop a couple of times to enjoy the view. I especially was taking pictures quite extensively since I had to show my friends and family back home how stunning the Cascades are and the Pacific Northwest in general. It is still amazing to me how you can have such incredible nature so close to such a great city. I feel like I am running out of adjectives here. Anyway, we made it up to Lake Serene and serene it was. Imagine a totally clear lake mirroring the beautiful scenery and just the sound of melting-water rippling into the lake.

When we sat down at the lake, a little ground squirrel came to say hi to us. Experienced hikers Chris and Allison taught me that we are not supposed to feed them, no matter how cute they are. Although we did not offer him any food, the little creature stuck around for a while as we were all enjoying the idyll of the lake, silenced by its beauty. I remember we ate some pretty delicious trail mix at this point. I think there were peanuts in there covered in some crunchy, spicy stuff.

If you walk down a little further along the lake there is a giant boulder that is perfect for some
relaxation. Here we watched a couple taking pictures of themselves for nearly half an hour. I could not blame them since the spot was quite fitting for that. After we got our rest we hiked back to the trailhead. All in all the Bridal Veil Falls and Lake Serene hike was a pretty laid-back hike, but of course the weather highly influenced our experience. The views and scenery are absolutely rewarding. Bring some gear for making a refreshing jump into the lake to make the hike even more rewarding!

At the moment of writing I am back in the library in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. However, through the writing of this blog post, my mind is back in the Pacific Northwest. I have been extremely lucky to meet all of these fantastic people that you as a reader of this blog have read about. Without Chris and Allison’s enthusiasm for hiking and their organizational skills I probably would not have seen so much of the Pacific Northwest. I still remember that particular Sunday night in my room in Amsterdam, totally fed up with looking for a place in Seattle on Craigslist. If I did not write that one more reply to that crazy advertisement by Jesse, all of this would have never happened. Thank you so much for everything guys and all the best hiking the PCT this Summer!