John Guilford's Hikes

Josephine Lake from Stevens Pass on 2026-10-06

Date: 2026-10-06

Location: Josephine Lake from Stevens Pass

People: (including myself): Happy Hikers

				Alt.	Miles
Stevens Pass:		9:40	4084	0
High point:		10:45	5180	2
Lake Susan Jane:	12:00	4600	4
Lunch rock:		12:35	4980	4.8
Leave:			1:00
Josephine Lake:		1:30	4700	5.6
PCT:			2:10	4950	6.3
High point:		3:35	5180	5.9
Stevens Pass:		4:35	4080	11

This is an somewhat easier and shorter way to get to Josephine Lake than my previous visit which was via Tunnel Creek trail past Hope and Mig Lakes. Aside from a spur trail down to Lake Josephine, this route is along the PCT.

The day started off foggy at home, but as we drove out highway 2, we got out of the fog, and the day ended up about perfect weather. It was sunny and pleasant. While hiking, I spent most of my time in just a short sleeve shirt. In the sun it felt warm while in the shadier parts of the trail it was a bit cool.

The trail starts at the Stevens Pass parking lot alongside highway 2. The trail starts climbing immediately, a bit above the main ski area on the east side. You do cross under a couple of the chair lifts.

After climbing 1100 feet in 2 miles, you get to the saddle that is the high point of the hike at 5180 feet. This is also the top of the Jupiter Express chairlift on the back side of Stevens. After the saddle, you descend down into the valley before the trail levels out part way up the head of the Mill Creek valley (home of the Stevens Pass Nordic Center cross country and snowshoe trails).

The trail then encounters Lake Susan Jane which isn't terribly noteworthy. Just after that lake, the trail starts climbing up towards Josephine Lake. Here you have to cross a rock fall that requires a little bit of boulder scrambling. Other than this stretch, the trail is in good condition and easy to hike on.

When you first catch sight of Josephine Lake, there is a spur trail labeled "Icicle Creek Trail, Number 1551" that leads off around the north end of Josephine Lake and then down to the lake level on the far (east) side of the lake.

When we visited Josephine earlier in the year from the south, we ate lunch at a small clearing with a distinctive rock on an overlook above the lake. We tried to find it by going south from the trail junction along the PCT. The first time I didn't go far enough, but the second time I went further and found the rock. We had lunch there.

After lunch, a group of us elected to go down to the lake level while others in the group stayed at the overlook before heading back.

The trail down to the lake is somewhat rougher than the PCT was, with a number of downed trees to go over/under. A bit north of the trail junction lie a couple small lakes/ponds that had pretty reflections. The trail stays high about 3/4s of the way to the far side before descending relatively steeply to the lake where there is a camping area.

After some photos we ascended back up the trail to the junction with the PCT and headed back. We met up with the rest of our group on the ascent to the saddle between Big Chief and Cowboy Mtns.

Near the bottom, after crossing under Kehr's Chairlift, the trail passes an access road. It looked like it was lightly covered with straw, but the "straw" was really short, golden colored sticks. There is a V in the trail there that we initially missed. The left fork heads down to the Stevens Pass base area. We quickly realized our mistake and backtracked to the V and took the right fork which was the PCT and led to our parking area.

At our cars, we were changing shoes and such, when someone noticed a bear further up the parking lot. I got a photo before he disappeared into the brush, but it wasn't a very good picture as the bear was fairly far away.

We were waiting for the rest of our party to come down and noted the bear seemed to be moving (through the brush) down towards the base area for the ski area. We contacted the rest of our party and notified them about the bear. We found they had taken the same wrong brach at the trail V and had ended up in the base area.

We drove down and met them. They told us the bear was down in the base area. We drove further down, parked, and found the bear behind the Cascadian Kitchen area. We got some more photos before the bear again disappeared back into the brush.

It was a lovely day with excellent weather and great views.