LoJ: #575 (Pre-LiDAR #587) / 13,090' Snowdon Peak

If parked in the upper parking lot at Andrews Lake, hike down to the lake and find the trailhead at the NW corner of the lake near some vault toilets. The trail starts out paved as it goes around the west end of the lake and turns to gravel after crossing the lake outlet. This is trail #623. It goes to Crater Lake. Once on the south side of the lake, the trail passes a kiosk of sorts and then begins climbing uphill through forest on a series of gentle switchbacks, gaining about 400 feet in elevation. This is a well used trail. Continue up 5 switchbacks and then start keeping watch for the trail that cuts off for Snowdon Peak. The turnoff used to be marked by a large cairn. The trail will be on the left (east) side of the main trail for Crater Lake. According to a report from Eddie Mack in 2023, the cairn has been removed and there is now a trail register where the trail for Snowdon turns off to the left. These coordinates should be close to that turnoff: N37° 43' 15.82" W107° 42' 26.31". You can see this turnoff on Google Earth. This trail to Snowdon will take you east, past some small tarns, crossing a couple of very minor ridges and to the edge overlooking a large, grassy meadow where the trail may fade some. We revisited this section of trail in 2024. There are two trails across the verdant and wet meadow. The one farther north has a shorter section of marsh-like wading. Both trails will reconnect after the meadow as the trail enters the forest. Begin hiking through forest with modest elevation gain and frequent fallen trees to cross. After a short time, you'll come to a place where the stream on the right enters a deeper gorge with a waterfall. A short distance past there, the trail comes to the edge of another short, very wet meadow to cross. Just before leaving the forest, there is a less used trail that turns off on the left. This trail, though a little vague, avoids that marshy crossing. It heads NE, then switchbacks to rejoin the main trail farther on past the marsh. Once back on the main trail, the angle of incline begins to increase and you'll come to another trail junction. The trail to the right drops a little to cross the drainage. We don't know where this trail goes, but it may access "Naked Lady Couloir." Take the left fork at this junction if you want the main trail that goes to the Snowdon - N1 saddle. The trail immediately steepens intensely and climbs steadily for the next several hundred feet, staying on the left side mostly of the shallow, flower-filled drainage until reaching treeline where it switchbacks more. It will begin to fade into the tundra. Just head for the saddle and then find your way to the north ridge of Snowdon. The route above here is marked with frequent cairns.

At the saddle, turn southward and follow the ridge SW to another saddle. The trail stays to the left side of the ridge across ledges. As the ridge levels, slabs of rock appear. Continue following a cairn-marked trail that will lead off the main ridge and onto the east side of the mountain. This is to avoid some more difficult obstacles farther up the ridge. Contour across the east face some, losing perhaps a little elevation and then contour a little more. Begin heading up with some serious ascending, at times on some very steep terrain of combined rock and tundra that requires some 3rd class scrambling. At this point, it's easy to get off any designated route and you may miss the intended access, but continue working upward. At one point, we followed a rubble-filled gully that had beautiful clumps of columbine. Either way, work back to the NE ridge either just below the summit or emerge onto the summit from the east side of the mountain, depending on route taken. It took us two hours of steady hiking from Andrews Lake to arrive at the summit and we found it to be a fairly large, flat area.

The views from this summit are impressive. The lone summit of Engineer Mtn. will certainly attract your attention, but to the east is the sea of summits that form the Needle Mountains. If you have good map reading and navigation skills, you can pick out any number of 13er summits. Once done admiring the view, either return as you came or continue on to UN13,060/N 2 to the south. We also call this South Snowdon.