Angeline Lake is a freshwater

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

located on the northern slope of Iron Cap Mountain between Otter Lake,

Azure Lake Azure Lake is a fjord-like lake located in east-central British Columbia, Canada. It is an expansion of the Azure River which rises from an unnamed glacier in the Cariboo Mountains. The outflow is also called the Azure River, but it is only long ...

and

Big Heart Lake Big Heart Lake is the most remote and highest-elevation on-trail lake in the West Fork Foss River system. It is a round-trip hike from the trailhead, just off of the Foss River Road. The lake is located at the eastern base of Camp Robber Peak i ...

, in

King County King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the st ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

. Self-issued Alpine Lake Wilderness permit required for transit within the Big Snow Mountain area. West Fork Foss River exits Angeline Lake into a canyon that produces

Angeline Falls Angeline Falls is a large waterfall located on an unnamed tributary of the West Fork Foss River in Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area, King County, Washington. It is a horsetail type waterfall high and more than wide. The waterfall is perennial and f ...

downstream from Chetwoot Lake to Delta Lake. Because Angeline Lake is at the heart of the

Alpine Lakes Wilderness The Alpine Lakes Wilderness is a large National Wilderness Preservation System, wilderness area spanning the Central Cascades of Washington (state), Washington state in the United States. The wilderness is located in parts of Wenatchee National F ...

, the lake is a popular area for hiking, swimming, and fishing

golden trout The California golden trout (''Oncorhynchus aguabonita or Oncorhynchus mykiss aguabonita''), is a species of trout native to California. The golden trout is normally found in the Golden Trout Creek (tributary to the Kern River), Volcano Creek (tr ...

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...

, and

cutthroat trout The cutthroat trout is a fish species of the family Salmonidae native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean, Rocky Mountains, and Great Basin in North America. As a member of the genus '' Oncorhynchus'', it is one of the Pacific tro ...

Outlet

Angeline Lake has a low watershed to surface area ratio with low flushing rates. The lake has a subterranean outlet. The top land of the outlet channel is blocked by a large landslide. As a consequence, the water exiting the lake percolates in through the landslide and emerges about 1,000 feet downstream from the lake. At this surfacing point, the stream cascades steeply down the hillside over cliffs that line the south side of the Delta Lake basin, forming Angeline Falls, spreading out to 80-100 feet in width and pitching down nearly vertically 424 feet to the talus slopes below. After the pool of the waterfall, the creek cascades for a short distance before again being absorbed into the rocky slope and receding entirely underground again, emerging approximately 600 vertical feet further down at the south end of Delta Lake.

Geography

Angeline Lake is nestled in a long structural

benchland In geomorphology, geography and geology, a bench or benchland is a long, relatively narrow strip of relatively level or gently inclined land that is bounded by distinctly steeper slopes above and below it. Benches can be of different origins and ...

with relatively level or gently inclined land bounded by the distinctly steeper slopes of Atrium Peak above and between Angeline and Big Heart Lake. The lake is located in a prominent valley along the western skirt of the

Mount Daniel Mount Daniel is the highest summit on the Cascade Range crest of Alpine Lakes Wilderness of the central Washington, USA. It is the highest point in King and Kittitas counties. Streams on its eastern slopes form the headwaters of the Cle Elum R ...

area in connection with the North-Middle Forks Snoqualmie mountain grouping area. The valley follows patterns of geomorphology typical of the Northern Cascade Mountains of the

Pacific Mountain System The Pacific Coast Ranges (officially gazetted as the Pacific Mountain System in the United States) are the series of mountain ranges that stretch along the West Coast of North America from Alaska south to Northern and Central Mexico. Although the ...

with a

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...

composed of pyrrhotite and

pyrite The mineral pyrite (), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Iron, FeSulfur, S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic Luster (mineralogy), lust ...

found in thin seams wide at a depth of below the surface. The host rock in this area is greensand from the

Lopingian The Lopingian is the uppermost series/last epoch of the Permian. It is the last epoch of the Paleozoic. The Lopingian was preceded by the Guadalupian and followed by the Early Triassic. The Lopingian is often synonymous with the informal terms l ...

epoch 260 to 250 million years ago.

Climate

Angeline lake is within a hemiboreal climate. The average temperature is 0°C. The warmest month is August, with an average temperature of 13°C, and the coldest month is January, at an average of −10 °C. The average rainfall is 1,989 millimeters per year. The wettest month is January, with 248 millimeters of rain, and the least in August, with 41 millimeters of rain.

Access

Access to Angeline Lake is through West Fork Foss Lakes Trail #1064 off Forest Service road 6835 a side road of Foss River Road (Forest Service Road #68), which exits

U.S. Highway 2 U.S. Route 2 or U.S. Highway 2 (US 2) is an east–west U.S. Highway spanning across the northern continental United States. US 2 consists of two segments connected by various roadways in southern Canada. Unlike some routes, whi ...

. The trail borders Trout Lake, Lake Malachite, Copper Lake and Little Heart Lake before ending on campsites along Atrium Peak, the ridge between Big Heart Lake and Angeline Lake to the East. The output of Big Heart Lake is approximately a mile from the output of Angeline Lake. Self-issued Alpine Lake Wilderness permit required for transit within the Necklace Valley area.

References

{{authority control Lakes of King County, Washington Lakes of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Okanogan National Forest

Outlet

Geography

Climate

Access

See also

References