Talapus Lake is a freshwater

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

located on a prominent valley at the eastern skirt of

Bandera Mountain Bandera Mountain is a mountain located near Snoqualmie Pass, Washington (U.S. state), Washington in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. The mountain is accessible by the Mason Lake Trail (Ira Springs Memorial Trail), which is located off Interstate 90, ...

, in

King County King County is a county 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 12th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle ...

, Washington. Mount Defiance and Pratt Mountain are a short distance to the west of Talapus Lake. The name Talapus is a Chinook word for ''coyote''. Talapus Lake is surrounded by other alpine lakes, including Olallie Lake and

Pratt Lake Pratt Lake is a lake in the U.S. state of Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries wit ...

a short distance north. Because of its proximity to

Snoqualmie Pass Snoqualmie Pass is a mountain pass that carries Interstate 90 (I-90) through the Cascade Range in the U.S. state of Washington. The pass summit is at an elevation of , on the county line between Kittitas County and King County. Snoqualmie Pas ...

and other prominent peaks in 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 ...

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

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...

. Access to the lake is from Talapus Lake trail or Pratt Lake trail further east, a short exit from

Interstate 90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain states, Mountain West, Great Pla ...

, west of the

References

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

See also

References