The Shoe
Manson,
Washington
Overview
The Shoe trail at Echo Ridge is a nice loop hike through a mixture of open areas as well as forest, with some views of Lake Chelan thrown in. With some shaded slopes, you are more likely to find wildflowers on this trail later in the season compared to other hikes at Echo Ridge. The hike is appropriate for families, but it somewhat surprisingly has almost 400 feet of elevation gain. The trail can be hiked in either direction, but I prefer counter-clockwise for the lake views at the beginning.
Directions
Parking
Trip Reports
My parents were interested in taking their dogs out for an off-leash hike, and we figured it would be best to head up to Echo Ridge in the morning given the hot temperatures. With smoke becoming a common morning occurrence recently due to the Pioneer Fire, we were also hoping Echo may be above the majority of the smoke, but that didn't prove to be the case.
I don't know that there is a markedly better direction for hiking the trail, but I prefer to start with the downhill, that way you are not ending on the uphill - it certainly helped motivate my son towards the end of the hike knowing the last half mile back to the car was flat or even a little downhill.
While we passed by some trees, there wasn't much shade on this section and it was hot, even at 10am in the morning. The dogs were certainly feeling the heat, occasionally lying down in the shade and waiting for us to catch up.
After passing by the junction with Switchback Alley, the trail started ascending and eventually we entered a more forested section where it was noticeably cooler, and didn't seem as smokey - although that may be because our views were limited by the trees. I was surprised how green it was in this section, with the grasses and bushes not yet dried out.
We also had a breeze start to pick up, which combined with the shade from the forest made for a pleasant hike. Eventually we exited the forest, but at that point we were less than a half mile from the car. A nice family outing at Echo Ridge despite the heat and smoke.
