This was a backup hike as the original plan to climb Abiel fell through due to the amount of snow on 9070. In fear of getting stuck like the year before, turning around was a smart thing to do.
This short hike is best to do early spring to early winter as part of the trail runs across the Summit West ski slope. Trailhead began at the west end of the Snoqualmie West Summit parking lot, which shared with the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) the entire 1.5 miles to and back from the Lake. Beaver Lake is on the way to Lodge Lake, with a tiny shed north side of the lake. Personally I think small lakes are much nicer to look at when they’re frozen and/or covered in snow.
It started to rain just after we arrived at Lodge Lake and it was nice and quiet.