Rainbow Lake – Painting Adventure
- 1 hour ago
- 7 min read
Exploring the lowland lakes and ponds of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and Mt. Defiance near Snoqualmie Pass, May 21-23, 2026.
One of my favorite procrastination tools is looking at maps. As a kid this meant pulling guidebooks from the shelf and paper maps from a box with my dad and planning our next day hike or backpack. As an adult, technology has opened a whole different world of options. Last year in an attempt to reduce my social media time, I banished the apps from my phone and told my browser to redirect my attempts to go to Facebook or Instagram to the weather service and Caltopo or Gaia, my mapping applications of choice.
Instead of scrolling a mindless feed, I instead rove around the map, zooming in to see trails and looking for areas I’ve never been. One of these gaps on my personal exploration map was the goal of this early season backpacking trip to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.
Two of the most popular close-in hikes in the area are Mason Lake, and then just down the road you have Talapus and Olallie Lakes. Both are a busy zoo of hikers on the weekends, and I last hiked them ten years ago. But, the area of lakes and ponds between them intrigued me for years, and was the perfect early season option.
On the first day of the trip, a Thursday before Memorial Day weekend, a friend and I headed out to the Talapus Lake trailhead. Arriving around noon, we got a parking spot in the small lot, and there were just a few cars parked along the road overflowing from the parking area. The weather was perfect- high 60s or low 70s, warm in the sun and cool in the shade of the trees that would accompany us for most of the hike.
Like many of the most popular trails in the state, this one is wide and worn in, with rocks sticking up and demanding attention while walking. But, unlike other hikes, the trail to the first two lakes is a delightful gentle grade. After a winter spent hiking steep trails on Tiger Mountain, the gradual ascent was so pleasant and ideal for me, as I’d been dealing with a cranky hamstring for the last month. It was a huge relief for my leg to feel mostly normal on this trip, since I have a big backpacking trip with my dad in a week!
On the way up we hiked right by Talapus lake because of the group of people, and our goal of Olallie for a late lunch. The trail gains about 1,000 feet over that first section of trail, and a long lunch on the shore of Olallie was a wonderful break.
Once past Olallie, we went left around the lake and followed the clear trail intil it’s end, and then followed a bootpath shortcut up the hill to meet up with the Pratt Lake Trail. The shortcut is relatively clear to follow, but it was handy to have my Gaia map saved and open a few times when a tree had fallen and obscured the path for a bit. This steep shortcut saves nearly a mile of walking compared to linking up with the Pratt Lake Trail before Olallie Lake.
The Pratt trail my favorite part of the day’s hike began as we contoured below Pratt Mountain, now on trail 1009 (Mt. Defiance Trail). Dappled light filtering through trees festooned with flowing light green lichen. A soft and smooth path covered in pine needles and lined with bear grass. Peek-a-boo views of the hills and peaks of the Snoqualmie pass area through gaps in the trees. It was lovely, and some of the most pleasant trail miles I’ve had in a long time.
Eventually the trail does steepen a bit in some places, and the trail is cut across a very steep slope. The bushes and trees make it feel safer, with a few spots where I watched my feet as it looked like a nasty spot to fall. The remaining ascent felt harder than I would like, but I reminded myself that it is early season, and the hamstring issue set back my cardio/ weighted pack training, so I was just glad to be doing well overall (and probably needed to drink more water).
With a short descent and a few easy snow patches to cross after rounding the shoulder of Pratt Mountain it was time to find camp by Rainbow Lake! I knew from looking at google earth images that there were a few spots by the lake, and we found a lovely site just above lake level. There are three sites at Rainbow lake, none of them huge. The first was wet from snowmelt, the middle tiny, and the third just barely fit our two solo tents. I think most backpackers head to Pratt, Island, or Mason lakes.
All of the effort to get here was rewarded with a lovely evening by the lake enjoying dinner and watching the evening sun glimmer on the breeze-ruffled water.
Day two started damp and dewy! The downside of camping so close to a lake is the huge amount of condensation (and, being by the lakeshore is definitely not my preference, for both warmth and Leave no trace, but when a site is already established close to water, it is ok to use it, especially when no other sites exist). My tent walls were so wet it looked like I’d been out in a rainstorm, but once the sun arrived everything started to evaporate as we headed out for a day of exploration farther along the trail.
First up was Sir Richard’s Pond, which from the map looks tiny and uninteresting, but up close, with beautiful morning light, rock gardens on the distant shore, and still water reflecting Mt. Defiance, it was the prettiest spot of the trip! Unable to resist a perfect spot to sit on the shoreline, I plopped down to paint and film a class for my Adventure Art Academy online art school. My friend wandered and worked on her own sketches.
Creating a painting is sometimes an emotional rollercoaster. I often have an idea of where the painting might go in my mind, and when things go completely sideways the dissonance between that idea, and the beauty of the place, with the reality of a messy painting on the page, can feel really discouraging. This painting is one that just wasn’t working, and I almost gave up on it. Thankfully my friend was patient, and I had the extra time to try scrubbing out a section of trees and repainting it with more detail and less green, and I’m so happy I did! The painting went from feeling like a goner to reflecting the fun colors and bright light of the pond. When field painting, I try never to be afraid to edit and rescue a painting that isn’t working, because the worst that can happen is I like it even less. And then in the best cases the courage to try turns it around!
After the painting we had lunch by the pond, enjoying a perfect early season day. The wind and the sun were balanced, so it never got too hot or cold. And there was still not a single mosquito!! What a joy!!! To hike in a place like this, that is known for being a mosquito disaster zone, was such a gift.
The afternoon’s adventure was more strenuous than the painting as we hiked toward Mason Lake and Mt. Defiance. Once past the lake basin, the trail heads uphill, steeply, and just keeps getting steeper as it gains over 1,000 feet in a short distance. I last hiked this more than ten years ago, and I’d completely forgotten how steep and unrelenting the trail felt. If I wasn’t training for a seven day in the Enchantments a week from now, I probably would have stayed by the lakeshore and taken a nap!
The views were spectacular as expected, but we were too late in the day to fit in another painting. So, I snapped quick photos of all the peaks we could see – Mt. Adams, Rainier, Mt. Stuart, Mt. Daniel, and so many more – to paint at a later date.
The hike down was easier than I thought, and I was very excited for dinner when we got back to camp at 7pm. The last of the sunlight left just as my dehydrated meal was ready, the warmth of the sun replaced by the warm pot in my hands. With an early alarm the next morning (4:30!) so my friend could get back to Seattle by noon, we headed to bed early, and were serenaded by an owl or two that hooted off and on all night!
When my alarm went off bright and early, I wish we’d been able to stay for another day! The lakeshore looked so inviting, and the puffy clouds illuminated by sunrise into subtle shades of pink invited lingering here. But, with a schedule to keep we packed up and headed back the way we came, admiring the dramatic light on Mt. Defiance in the distance and enjoying the empty trail until we got back to Olallie Lake. At that point there were people everywhere, and our pace slowed as we had to let hikers by. Even the parking lot and road were a zoo, with cars parked a mile down from the trailhead, making our exit a bit exciting.
I enjoyed this area so much that I plan to come back again early next summer to explore more of the other lowland lakes! And, I look forward to revisiting it virtually when I work on turning all of my video footage from the hike and my painting process into a class for the Adventure Art Academy.
