In honor of the Eagles playing in the Super Bowl, a morning ascent of Philadelphia Mountain seemed appropriate.
A recent spurt of cold weather had brought a bit of snow to the lowlands, so I wasn’t surprised to see the road to the Lake Serene Trailhead completely covered in a few inches of snow. I was there early in the morning and the road was icy, so I just opted to park in a wide pullout near the highway and save myself the headache of snow driving.
Microspikes were helpful from the trailhead. There had been a bit of new snow overnight and footing was slippery in places. The snow continued to deepen as I hiked up, but hikers from the previous day had put in a pretty good track and standard trail was easy to follow.
I stopped briefly at Lake Serene to take in the view. Wispy clouds were swirling around the snowy cliffs of Mount Index, but the sky was mostly blue. It was a beautiful sight!
The route to Philadelphia Mountain takes off near the sign for the toilet above the lake. I backtracked to this point and put on my snowshoes, unsure if I’d be trail-breaking the whole way to the peak or not. I was pleased to find an existing trough that had been created by a party the previous day. New snow had filled it in to an extent, but it would be a be a huge help to me on my ascent.
Shortly after leaving the Lake Serene trail, I encountered a field of giant boulders. I had heard that this peak was best done with lots of snow to cover the boulder field, and I could see why. Without adequate snow to fill in the gaps, it could be quite treacherous. There was jussst enough for me to navigate it safely, but I still saw a few holes to nowhere that I was sure to avoid. It was hard to pay adequate attention to where my feet were going because it was so scenic. The pillowy boulders draped with snow and the massive cliffs of Index tried and succeeded to take my gaze off my feet.
Soon enough I was safely through the boulder field and into open forest. Travel was easy, albeit somewhat steep in places as I continued to follow the existing track.
The ridge leveled out a bit above 3800’ with some gentle ups and downs over the last 400 vertical feet. The summit is completely treed, but there were occasionally nice views north to Index Town Wall and other distant peaks (which were mostly hidden behind clouds for me).
The way down was uneventful except for one moment where my snowshoe slid out from under my foot landing me square in a drift of soft snow. It was a funny moment that I wish someone was around to see. I made it back to the Lake Serene trail in just under 3 hours from when I left it. The climb from the lake ended up being 4.4 miles and 1900’ feet of gain.
The hike down was quick, with one exciting moment hearing large chunks of ice and snow pouring over Bridal Veil Falls. I made it back to Seattle early enough to watch the Eagles crush the Chiefs dreams of a three-peat.
RT stats from Lake Serene: 4.4 miles / 1900’ feet of gain
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