Location : North Fork of Snoqualmie, North Bend Wa. Take the North Bend exit 31. At the stop sign off the exit reset your odomoter to zero. Turn left, you'll be on Bendingo Way. Go 0.7 miles crossing the railroad tracks and turn right at the light on North Bend Way. Go two blocks and turn left on Ballarat Ave N. At 1.3 miles Ballarat becomes 420 Ave SE, make the next right on SE 102nd St. At 2 miles turn left on 428 Ave SE. At 3.8 miles 428th road becomes the North Fork of the Snoqualmie Road SE. At 4.9 miles the road splits into a Y, go left uphill. At 5.3 the North Fork of the Snoqualmie Road SE turns to gravel. At 17.4 miles from exit 31 there is a parking lot across from logging road 29200 that is marked gate 16. Google Map link to Lake Philippa (Note Lake Philippa is the large lake to the left of Lake Isabella) Google Map link to the Trailhead and a route showing the road to take to the trailhead (Note this is using the gmap-pedometer presentation, which seems to have every logging road in the world, and its really not as confusing as this map makes it appear.)
Elevation Start/End: 1550/3362 with 1800 foot overall elevation gain.
Length: 3.45 miles one way, 6.9 round trip
Trail Info: The first 1.4 miles follows a logging road. It would be a time saver to take mountain bikes and ride to the end of the road. Go through gate 16 pass over a cement bridge, then going right at the first fork (the left fork leads to Loch Katrine), and then going left at the second fork. The trail/road is covered with young alder and scrub and in wet conditions will soak you as you walk through. The trail enteres into old growth forest and follows Philippa Creek up until at 2.8 miles you come to a small talus field where a slipper log crosses the from the east to the west side of the creek. Before crossing if you bushwhack up the creek you can see a cool slot canyon where the creek has cut a narrow gorge. Cross the creek on the log and your only .6 miles from the Lake, but from here you gain over 900 feet as your hike turns into a scramble that is at times almost straight up. You'll do climb up slippery rocks, slopes, moss, roots and trees until you come to a talus field. Pick your away across the mossy talus making your way up towards the top of the field. Then one more small steep scramble and your on the final approach through huckleberry bushes to the Lake. There are three camping spots. You approach the lake still on the west side of the creek. Right at the trails end is a nice campsite with a fire ring, a black teapot and a grill. Furhter around the lake to the right is another campsite. If at the trails end you pick your way across the log jam at the Lakes mouth a small campsite is on the other side of the creek.
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