Diablo Lake: Thunder Knob Trail

 
Last weekend we went camping in the North Cascades. J's co-worker recommended that we visit Diablo Lake, and I'm so glad that we went on this recommendation. Diablo Lake (and a lot of the water in this area) has some of the prettiest, bright-bluest water that I have ever seen. One of the signs near Diablo Lake explained that the nearby glaciers deposit "rock powder" in the lakes, which accounts for the vibrant color.

We hiked to an overlook of Diablo Lake by taking the Thunder Knob Trail. This was a beautiful hike, but it pushed Sam to his limits on that particular day. The trail was about 1.8 miles long one-way (and we hiked to get to the trailhead, so we probably went about 2 miles one-way). Even though the elevation gain was only 635 feet, it was still a long distance for his little legs. We had to walk pretty slowly, but he was able to hike to the top by himself. And, luckily, there were a lot of benches along the trail. Anyhow, despite Sam's whining and constant requests for "bweaks," we finally made it to the top.

Colonial Peak is visible from this trail. Unfortunately the hiker who took this picture for us didn't quite capture the peak in the shot.

Sam was thrilled when we came upon the lake. He stopped in his tracks and shouted, "OHMYGOSH! IT'S THE LAKE! I CAN'T EVEN BELIEVE IT!" J and I praised him for being able to do the hike all by himself, and you could tell that he was really pleased with his accomplishment. And then, as we sat and looked at the pretty water, he said in a sweet voice, "Sorry I stopped so many times." J and I both assured him that it was just fine. We were just glad that he kept going.

This is a shot on our way back down, near the end of the hike (not too far from the trail head). I wanted to capture the diversity of this trail. There are a lot of mossy areas in the middle part of the hike, and then some dry and exposed areas (with completely different vegetation) near the summit. And then, in this picture, you can see that there is an area that is completely covered with rocks. It looks like an old riverbed. I wonder if the Diablo Dam caused this river to dry up?

We camped at the Colonial Creek Campground, which is right on the water of Diablo Lake. In fact, the Thunder Knob trail head is just across the street from the campground. It costs $12 per night to stay here, and the sites are available on a first-come-first-serve basis. We were lucky enough to get one of the sites near the water.

This was the view from our campsite that evening.

We'd love to come back and explore more of this area another time. J is curious about the Ross Lake Resort, and we both think it would be fun to take the ferry between Diablo Lake and Ross Lake. We did have time to go on the Happy Creek Nature Trail before heading home - it's a fun 1/3 mile boardwalk loop which goes through some old forest growth. But I noticed a lot more trails in the area (even a trail to the Happy Creek Falls), which also look fun.