Minotaur & Theseus Lakes
Outside of Stevens Pass on Rainy Creek Road lies a trifecta of Greek mythology symbols: Minotaur Lake, Theseus Lake, and Labyrinth Mountain. This hike is not an easy one as it has an elevation gain of over 1, 900 feet in 1.5 miles (if you are only going to the lakes). The first 1, 400 feet are gained in less than a mile. If that doesn’t deter you and you are still wanting climb higher, you can continue past the lakes for an additional mile and 1, 000 feet to the top of Labyrinth Mountain. Even though the hike up to this area is hard, it is well worth it because the views are incredible.
I have completed this hike two times, once in October to capture the fall colors, and once in July. While I do love this hike, I didn’t plan to do it twice. The first time I did this hike I was with my brother. We didn’t do our research beforehand, so we didn’t know that Lake Minotaur wasn’t the only lake to see on this hike. We completely missed Lake Theseus! We also did this hike in the cool rainy months October, so a majority of Labyrinth Mountain was shrouded in fog. Even though we missed some of the views, I still loved this hike because hiking in October brought out vibrant fall colors. It even started to snow while we were at the lake! This was the first snowfall I had seen for the winter season. Snow, fog, and beautiful fall colors made the hike to Lake Minotaur unforgettable, but I still wanted to go back and see Lake Theseus. My fiancé and I decided to go in July so that I could see both lakes and all of Labyrinth Mountain and be able to compare what this area looked like in October vs July. Personally, the pictures from October are my favorite, but fall is my favorite season and I love moody weather. I captured this area using my DJI Mini 3 Pro drone and Fujifilm X-T5 using the Kodak Ultramax 400 recipe in October and the Heartland recipe in July.
Your hike will start off of Rainy Creek Road. This is a bumpy and windy forest service road. It takes about 30 minutes to drive up to the parking lot from the highway. You will not have any cell service, so make sure you download an offline map or carry a physical map with you. You will immediately start hiking uphill from the parking lot, so prepare to start working hard right away. There isn’t much to see during this uphill portion of the hike. You will parallel a creek flowing down from Minotaur Lake for a while before you hike further uphill and can no longer hear the creeks gentle roar. As you hike further uphill, you will start to see more greenery around you. When you start to see more bushes and mossy trees you are about halfway to the top. Eventually the hike will slightly flatten out and you will start to walk along the side of the hill with its slope continuing upward on your lefthand side. You will come out of the trees onto flat ground and reach a meadow. Once you reach this part the lakes aren’t much further! This section of the trail was gorgeous in October. The ground was littered with red foliage and orange bushes. In July there were still some snow patches from winter that we had to walk over.
Past the meadow there are only a couple more uphill sections until you reach the lakes. Once you see a small pond to the right, Minotaur Lake lies just beyond on top of the final hill. There was significantly more water in this pond in July.
At the top of the final hill, Minotaur Lake and Labyrinth Mountain lie straight ahead while Theseus Lake is nestled below to the right. Don’t forget to go to the right to see Theseus Lake like my brother and I did (even though we didn’t know that it was there). There are several small logs bunched together in the creek that make it easy to safely cross. From this ridge, you will have views down onto Theseus Lake. This is a cliff, so be careful with little ones at the edge. You will have continuous views of Minotaur Lake from this ridge. If you are wanting to hike to the top of Labyrinth Mountain, you just follow this trail to the north between the two lakes and continue up the mountain.
This ridge also provided the perfect vantage point for me to fly my drone from to capture both of the lakes and surrounding mountains.
In addition to the path that goes between Minotaur Lake and Theseus Lake, there is also a path that goes along the western side of Minotaur Lake. This is the path that my brother and I explored in October. I think my brother’s favorite part about the lake was the dead fish that he found. Fall foliage surrounding the lake stood out amongst the foggy sky and blue lake. I felt like we were walking through a wonderland. The beauty of the surrounding scenery almost made me forget that it was super cold and snowing.
In July, greens were prominent around the lake. Since it was a clear sunny day, you could see into the water around the edge of the lake. It was about 80 degrees out when my fiancé and I were at the lake. We saw several people swimming and one person had even brought an inflatable raft with them. Don’t be fooled by the warm weather though, the lake is still very cold. My fiancé braved the cool waters and dipped his toes in. While the lake in July wasn’t as colorful as in October, it was still gorgeous. To me the lake looked like a completely different place in July than it did in October. October was still my favorite time to visit the lake, but I’ll let you be the judge!
Note for the reader: I share these locations so that others can see beautiful places and enjoy nature as much as I do. Please be respectful of the outdoors and what condition it is in when you visit. Don’t go off trail, leave no trace, and pack out what you came in with.
