We spent Labor Day weekend in 2011 hiking from Chinook Pass to the Cougar Lakes and back. We followed the Cougar Lakes and Three Lakes route from Backpacking Washington by Craig Romano.
We hiked the 10 miles to Little Cougar Lake on the first day. The trail was initially congested with day hikers but the trail is soon nearly empty with only backpackers. Many were only hiking as Dewey Lake at about 3 miles. On our way to Cougar Lakes, we met a nice older gentleman with an umbrella and a pistol. We also met a llama that was lost but luckily found by his owner.
We were one of three tents at Little Cougar Lake and there was plenty of campsites for each group. However, we only saw one camping spot with a fire ring. We enjoyed relaxing near the water and only dared to dip our feet in given the water was freezing.
Since the hike to the lakes was not strenuous, we took the alternative route back to the PCT in the morning. Romano described this route as a “rougher, shorter, highly scenic, more adventurous route back to the PCT.” His description did not understate the difficulty or the beauty of this alternate path. We found ourselves walking directly up the mountain along a dried spring without switchbacks. There were times we were certain we lost the path but the climb was rewarded with this view of the Cougar Lakes.
We were ecstatic to come across the notice that we were in the Mount Rainier National Park, because we then knew we were on a trail and would make it back home.
Once we were back on the PCT, we headed back while taking in views of Mount Rainier. We spent our second night on Dewey Lake, which was much more congested than Little Cougar Lake but not too crowded to find a good spot near the lake. Dewey Lake is beautiful, cold, and worth spending some time near before heading home. Being Dewey Lake is a shorter hike from the tail head, there were multiple families with younger children spending the weekend there.
After a night at Dewey Lake, we had a short hike back up to the car (a short elevation climb of about 5150 ft). By the end of the hike, we were dirty, tired, and had amazing pictures to treasure.
