Washington state is an incredibly beautiful place, and we’re fortunate to have access to thousands of miles of trails that take us to some unbelievable locations. While we love going out hiking for the day, there’s something truly special about getting to spend the night out there and really soak in your surroundings. Enter: backpacking! If you’re willing to strap some extra weight to your back, you’ll be rewarded with a peaceful wilderness experience, and often some of the most unforgettable sunsets and sunrises of your life!

When prime summer weather hits in Washington (typically mid-June through mid-September), you will find us in the mountains backpacking every chance we get. Based on those experiences, we’ve rounded up our top picks for some of the best overnight summer backpacking trips in Washington to help inspire your next outing. While every trail and individual is different, we’ve done our best to rank these Washington backpacks from easiest to most difficult, based on our experience and perspective.

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Beginner Backpacking Trips in Washington, Spring Backpacks, and Year-Round Options

While some of the backpacking trips listed in this post are considered on the easy side, if you are looking for truly beginner backpacking options, we recommend checking out this post! It features some great options that have very little elevation gain, and for that reason, you’ll also find these hikes to be snow-free and ready to be explored much earlier in the year, or even year-round. Most are great for spring and early summer, and some can even be done in the winter if you’re really serious about spending some time outdoors (we totally did Baker Lake in January!).

Read 10 Early-Season Backpacking Trips (Including Beginner Options)

Summit Lake

Stats: 6.1 miles roundtrip, 1,300′ elevation gain
Area: Mount Rainier
Distance from Seattle: 1 hour, 46 min
Pass/Permit: Northwest Forest Pass
Dogs Allowed? Dogs allowed on leash

Take in the views of deep-blue Summit Lake with Mount Rainier towering behind it on this beginner-friendly backpack! If you want even better views, push on to Summit Lake Ridge, where we were fortunate to snag an incredible campsite with the best views of all. Also, if you time it up right in mid to late July, you can enjoy a small meadow bursting with avalanche lilies on your way up to the ridge from the lake. What more could you ask for?

Learn more: Summit Lake on WTA

Snowgrass Flats and Goat Lake Loop

Stats: 12.3 miles roundtrip, 2,706′ elevation gain
Area: South Cascades, Goat Rocks area
Distance from Seattle: 3 hours
Pass/Permit: Wilderness permit – self-issue at trailhead (no fee)
Dogs Allowed? Dogs allowed on leash

It doesn’t get much better than a loop hike, where you get to enjoy changing views around every bend! This backpack had it all — expansive views of Mount Adams, wildflowers, a beautiful lake, and even a stunning cloud inversion at sunrise. When we arrived at the lake, it was insanely windy so pack layers and your tent stakes. The next day was perfectly calm though, which was a welcomed change. If you’re feeling spunky and adventurous, you can head up to Old Snowy Mtn adding just under 3mi and about 2000′ one way, but we hear the views are worth it!

Learn more: Snowgrass Flats and Goat Lake Loop on AllTrails

Paddy-Go-Easy Pass

Stats: 6 miles roundtrip, 2,560′ elevation gain
Area: Snoqualmie Region, Salmon La Sac/Teanaway
Distance from Seattle: 2 hours, 25 min
Pass/Permit: Wilderness permit – self-issue at trailhead (no fee)
Dogs Allowed? Dogs allowed on leash

While this hike is challenging, we looks back fondly on having the entire area, including gorgeous Sprite Lake and views of Mount Daniel, essentially all to ourselves! There is also an old small mine shaft on the southwest ridge (Where the below photo was taken) that is neat but mostly just a large hole in the ground now (be careful not to fall in). Definitely a lesser known site!

Learn more: Paddy-Go-Easy Pass on WTA

Navaho Peak

Stats: 13.7 miles roundtrip, 4,223′ elevation gain*
Area: Snoqualmie Region, Salmon La Sac/Teanaway
Distance from Seattle: 1 hour, 58 min
Pass/Permit: Northwest Forest Pass
Dogs Allowed? Dogs allowed on leash

Don’t let the stats on this one scare you away! We opted to pitch our tent in the meadow area (on dirt; never pitch a tent on grass or flowers) below Navaho Pass, and tackle the rest of the mileage and gain on fresh legs with day packs the following day. The final push up to Navaho Peak is definitely challenging, but you’ll feel so accomplished when you finally make it and can enjoy 360-degree views!

Learn more: Navaho Peak on WTA

Rachel & Rampart Lakes

Stats: 9 miles roundtrip, 2,539′ elevation gain*
Area: Snoqualmie Pass
Distance from Seattle: 1 hour, 23 min
Pass/Permit: Northwest Forest Pass
Dogs Allowed? Dogs allowed on leash

*First 2.5 miles are essentially flat, so this is a deceptively challenging hike with all of the elevation gain coming over just two miles

As noted above, this trail felt more challenging than the stats suggest with much of the elevation gain coming in one short section. The trail is also wet, rocky, and has a lot of tree roots so you have to pay attention to your footing along the way. That said, both Rachel and Rampart Lakes are gorgeous! We initially stopped at Rachel to enjoy lunch but highly recommend pushing on to Rampart Lakes for more camping options and even better views. The trail between the two is steep, but it’s quite short in the scheme of things.

Learn more: Rachel and Rampart Lakes on AllTrails

Marmot Pass via Upper Big Quilcene Trail

Stats: 11.5 miles roundtrip, 3,489′ elevation gain
Area: Olympic Peninsula
Distance from Seattle: 2 hour, 30 min
Pass/Permit: Northwest Forest Pass
Dogs Allowed? Dogs allowed on leash

We found this backpack to be harder than expected for one reason or another so opted to drop our packs and set up camp at Camp Mystery and save the pass for sunrise the following morning, which was absolutely incredible. If you’re up for it, highly recommend pushing on to the pass so you can roll out of bed to those views! As always, be sure to pitch your tent on an established site to avoid damaging the fragile wildflowers/meadows here.

Learn more: Marmot Pass on WTA

Surprise Lake to Thunder Mountain Lakes

Stats: 14.5 miles roundtrip, 4,287′ elevation gain
Area: Stevens Pass
Distance from Seattle: 1 hour, 30 min
Pass/Permit: Northwest Forest Pass
Dogs Allowed? Dogs allowed on leash

This is a long hike, but we promise the gorgeous lakes will make it worth it! You can do this a few different ways, but we opted to start from the Surprise and Glacier Lakes trailhead, hike to Surprise Lake to camp on night 1, then hike up to Thunder Mountain Lakes to camp for night 2, then hike all the way out on day 3. My watch recorded 4.6 miles and 2,254′ elevation gain to Surprise Lake from the trailhead and 3.05 miles and 1,883′ from Surprise Lake to Thunder Mountain Lake.

We found the connector trail between the two to be easy to follow; it’s a long series of seemingly never-ending switchbacks (we counted 40!), but it wasn’t as difficult as we expected. Once you reach Trap Pass, you are treated to views of Trap Lake, but there are some steep spots and two short boulder fields to cross, however we didn’t have any issues. Camping sites at Thunder Mountain Lakes are somewhat limited, and mostly on rock. We were worried about wind initially, but thankfully it died down overnight and we were treated to awesome views from the comfort of our tent!

Lewis and Wing Lakes

Stats: 12 miles roundtrip, 2,652′ elevation gain
Area: North Cascades
Distance from Seattle: 3 hours
Pass/Permit: Northwest Forest Pass
Dogs Allowed? Dogs allowed on leash

Lewis and Wing Lakes was on our list to backpack for a long time, and it did not disappoint! We saved it for the fall to see the incredible golden larches, and were so fortunate to catch a beautiful stretch of weather despite wildfire smoke just a few miles away. This hike starts out sharing a trail with the extremely popular Heather – Maple Pass Loop trail for about 2 miles, so keep that in mind for parking and go on a week day if you can. The turn off to the Lewis and Wing Lakes trail is a bit hard to spot, so keep an eye on your AllTrails map so you don’t miss it. Shortly after the turn off, there is a long stretch of boulder field that you’ll want to take your time with but it’s all worth it once you hit the glowing turquoise Lewis Lake. The stretch between the two lakes felt tough and slow-going, but you’ll get to enjoy incredible views looking down over Lewis Lake. If you still have energy left in the tank, you can make the high grade scramble through scree and steep rocky surfaces up to Black Peak at 8291ft in elevation to gaze over the colorful blue lakes below. Helmet highly recommended!

Learn more: Sheep Lake on WTA

Tuck & Robin Lakes

Stats: 11.96 miles roundtrip, 3,354′ elevation gain
Area: Snoqualmie Region, Salmon La Sac/Teanaway
Distance from Seattle: 2 hours, 30 min
Pass/Permit: Northwest Forest Pass
Dogs Allowed? Dogs allowed on leash

Looking back, we have to laugh that this is listed as one of the hardest backpacks in this blog post, because it was actually the first backpack we ever did (foolishly!). This is another one where the stats can be deceiving; the first 3.5 miles is essentially all flat, which makes for an extremely challenging 2.5-mile stretch of elevation gain as you near Tuck and then the steep ascent to Robin Lakes. I (Katie) actually had a panic-attack on this trail. Needless to say, we weren’t quite prepared for this kind of gain all at once, and we aren’t exactly ultralight backpackers! It’s an absolutely gorgeous hike, but just make sure you get some training under your belt before tackling it. Hopefully this blog post will help with that!

Learn more: Tuck and Robin Lakes on WTA

What are your favorite places to backpack in Washington? Let us know in the comments! And we’d love to hear from you if you plan a visit inspired by this post! Connect with us on Instagram.