Lake Serene

One of my favorite hikes in Washington is Lake Serene, an 8.2 mile roundtrip hike in the Cascades with 2700ft elevation . The first 1.5 miles of the hike are well-paved with little elevation change. At this point you’ll run into a waterfall and the trail splits off to continue to Lake Serene or the Bridal Veil Falls trail. The last 2.5 miles is where a majority of the elevation gain occurs. The path contains lots of stairs and becomes rocky near the last 0.5 mile. It’s a challenging trail, but the view is worth the sweat!

This trail is great to do in both the summer and winter; I loved experiencing how different the trail feels in both seasons. In the summer, it feels nice to jump into the cool lake after the long hike, and in the winter, it’s beautiful to see the snow capped mountains and walk along the frozen lake (if you do this, please be careful and review lake ice safety!) .

Let me know in the comments if you’ve done this hike before & other hikes you’d recommend!

xo Kerstin