Summit Lake Hike

The Summit Lake Trail is an epic excursion that we cannot recommend enough. If you seek a short but scenic adventure, you will love this trek. Note this is a popular route as it follows the PCT and is conveniently located just off the highway. However, if you seek a more secluded adventure, we urge you to consider another route or head out in the early morning! Though this path is open year-round, we love hiking it most in the spring when the water level is high, vibrant vegetation, and wildflowers are blooming!

Setting out from the trailhead, the Summit Lake Hike follows the Glacier Meadow Loop through the meadowlands and past several small, charming lakes. Soon the path will reach an intersection with the PCT, veer left, and travel along the PCT as it intersects with the highway and delivers you into the woodland on the other side. At the next junction, turn right, and you will be diverted onto the Summit Lake Trail. Follow this route past the granite outcrops and through the mixed pines up to Summit Lake.

Once you reach the shore of the picture-perfect lake, take a walk around the perimeter of the pool if you don’t mind a little bit of overgrowth. After completing your walk along the shoreline and after admiring the scenery, retrace your footing along the path back to the trailhead.