On Saturday, the temperature in the city was 85 degrees. This is quite honestly the hottest it has been for me in Seattle since i've moved here. It was quite a shock. As a result, I passed up a day of skiing (shock, gasp - I know, for shame) in favor of a hike to a couple of waterfalls and a swimming hole on Sunday. Armed with a hiking guide book and a swimsuit, a friend and I headed off to Bridal Veil Falls and Lake Serene in search of some cooler temps and a chance to swim.

Neither of us had done this hike before, so besides knowing how far it was, how high it went, and that the hike ended at a gorgeous lake, we had no idea what we were in store for. About a mile in, as expected, we found the waterfalls:





You may notice how close I was to these falls while taking the pictures. I was not zooming at all - the trail takes you literally to the base of these falls- to the point that you are not only getting wet from the spray, but you have to cross the pool to continue up the trail. The water level was pretty high, so picking your way across was tricky. Unless you do what I did - just walking through the water and getting pretty soaked.

The hike up after the falls was challenging, but nothing impossible, or too long. Occasionally, we'd see evidence of "trail maintenance" - or the lack there of:





When we had about a mile to the top when all of a sudden, we hit snow.



This part of the hike was tough - two steps forward, one slide back. But the views were spectacular:




Now, at this point, I should have come to the conclusion that there was going to be no swimming for me in Lake Serene. I hadn't totally given up hope yet- I knew it was going to be chilly, having sampled the water coming off the falls already - but the guide book had raved about this fabulous swimming hole and I was ready. I even had my swimsuit on already.

And then we got to the lake and saw this:



Now, what you see here is, Mt. Index, surrounded by a ton of snow. The picture in the guidebook shows Mt. Index behind a LAKE. With WATER. Definitely not the case here. Definitely no swimming for me this time. It was impossible even to get down to the water's edge safely - you couldn't even tell where it was. There was so much snow on and around the lake, i'm not sure if there will any swimming here at all this season here. I did get to use my towel though - laid it out on the snow and sat on it while i ate my lunch.