Mountains to Sound Greenway

Hyak is an unincorporated community located on Snoqualmie Pass in Kittitas County, Washington. It is located within the Snoqualmie Pass CDP. Hyak was established around 1915 at the eastern portal of the Snoqualmie Pass Milwaukee Road Railroad tunnel. Originally a train station, the community began to grow in the 1930s when the railroad built a world class ski area. Today there are approximately 200 full-time residences in Hyak and another 100 part-time. Hyak is a Chinook Jargon word meaning "hurry", "fast", or "swift".

The Snoqualmie Tunnel is a former railroad tunnel near Snoqualmie Pass in the U.S. state of Washington, located east of Seattle. The tunnel crosses the Cascade Range about three miles (5 km) south of the pass, which is used by Interstate 90, on the border between King County and Kittitas County. It is 11,894 feet (2.253 mi; 3.625 km) long and is at an approximate elevation of 2,600 feet (790 m) above sea level, just north of Keechelus Lake. Its east portal is at Hyak. The tunnel was originally constructed for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad in the early 1910s and was abandoned in 1980. It now serves as part of a rail trail in Iron Horse State Park, known officially as the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail. The trail was formerly known as the John Wayne Pioneer Trail and commonly called the Iron Horse Trail. A major renovation to the walls, ceiling, and path were completed in July 2011 after a two-year closure.

Milwaukee Ski Bowl was an alpine ski area in the northwest United States in Washington, which operated between 1937 and 1950. It was southeast of Seattle in the Cascade Range at Hyak, on the east side of Snoqualmie Pass. Executives of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad ("The Milwaukee Road") built the ski area in the fall of 1937, including a large two-story day lodge and one surface lift near the east portal of the railroad's Snoqualmie Tunnel, just north of Keechelus Lake. It was originally the "Snoqualmie Ski Bowl" until it closed at the start of World War II. It reopened in 1946 as the "Milwaukee Ski Bowl" to avoid confusion with The Snoqualmie Summit ski area, two miles (3 km) away at the top of the pass. It was a major ski area for its era, comparable to but not as luxurious as Sun Valley, the Union Pacific Railroad's new resort in central Idaho.In early 1938, there was night skiing and lift tickets were a dollar a day, or ten cents per individual trip, for the cable surface lift, which vertically climbed 300 feet (90 m). Five runs were in the bowl, named for the railroad's popular trains of the era: Hiawatha, Chippewa, Arrow, Pioneer, and Olympian; additional lifts were added over time.The area proved to be popular when the Seattle Times newspaper sponsored a free ski school for high school students from Seattle and Tacoma. A round trip train ticket cost one dollar in 1940 with lift tickets for fifty cents. The 200-foot (60 m) lodge could hold one thousand people and concessions were operated by the Ben Paris complex of Seattle.A Class-A ski jump was built in 1941 and was said to be the largest in North America. National championship events in ski jumping were held here, including the 1948 Olympic team tryouts, held the preceding spring.In 1949, the lodge burned down in the early hours of Friday, December 2; the ski area reopened a month later, and operated out of numerous railroad cars on a new spur line for the rest of the season, its last.The ski area reopened under new ownership in 1959 as Hyak, and continues as Summit East. It has the lowest base elevation of the four Summit at Snoqualmie ski areas, at approximately 2,600 feet (790 m) above sea level. The railroad later went bankrupt; its former right-of-way in the Cascades is a rail trail, Iron Horse State Park.

Snoqualmie Pass is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kittitas County, Washington, United States. It includes the unincorporated community of Hyak. The population was 311 at the 2010 census.The CDP is named for the mountain pass that carries Interstate 90 across the Cascade Range, which itself is named for the Snoqualmie tribe, a Native American tribe indigenous to the Snoqualmie Valley located west of the pass. The portion of the mountain pass west of the height of land, in King County, is not part of the Snoqualmie Pass CDP. Based on per capita income, Snoqualmie Pass ranks 8th of 522 areas in the state of Washington to be ranked. It is also the highest rank achieved in Kittitas County.

Dungeon Peak is a 5,640+ ft (1,720+ m) mountain summit located in the Cascade Range, in Kittitas County of Washington state. It is situated northeast of Hyak, Washington, near the north end of Keechelus Lake, within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, on land managed by Wenatchee National Forest. Its nearest higher neighbor is Rampart Ridge, 0.66 mi (1.06 km) to the north-northeast. The mountain is set above the Gold Creek valley on the western side, and Lake Lillian on the eastern side. Precipitation runoff from the peak drains into tributaries of the Yakima River.

Kendall Peak is a mountain located on the county line separating King County and Kittitas County of Washington state. It is within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness on the crest of the Cascade Range. Kendall Peak is situated two miles northeast of Snoqualmie Pass on land managed by Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Precipitation runoff on the east side of the mountain drains into Silver Creek and makes its way to the Columbia River via Yakima River, whereas the west side of the mountain drains into the South Fork Snoqualmie River via Commonwealth Creek. The Pacific Crest Trail traverses its west flank and an exposed section of the trail called Kendall Katwalk has seen tragic deaths over the years, most recently September 5, 2018. The nearest higher peak is Red Mountain, 0.9 miles (1.4 km) to the north-northwest.

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 3,015 feet (919 m), on the county line between Kittitas County and King County.Snoqualmie Pass has the lowest elevation of the three east–west mountain routes across Washington State that are kept open year-round, along with Stevens Pass (US 2) to the north, and White Pass (US 12) to the south. I-90 is the primary commercial artery between Seattle and points east, carrying an average of 29,000 vehicles through the pass per day. I-90 is the only divided highway crossing east–west through the state.The pass lends its name to a census-designated place (CDP) located at the summit (Snoqualmie Pass, Washington). Both the CDP and Snoqualmie Pass are named after the Snoqualmie people of the valley to the west.

Rampart Ridge is a 5,870 ft (1,790 m) elevation mountain ridge located in the Cascade Range, in Kittitas County of Washington state. It is situated northeast of Hyak, Washington, and the north end of Keechelus Lake, within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, on land managed by Wenatchee National Forest. Its nearest higher peak is Alta Mountain, 1.74 mi (2.80 km) to the north-northeast, and Dungeon Peak rises 0.77 mi (1.24 km) to the south-southwest. The north-south trending ridge is characterized by vertical cliffs on its west-facing side above the Gold Creek valley, and gentle meadows with lakes on the eastern side, such as Rachel Lake, Lake Lillian, and the Rampart Lakes. The descriptive name of rampart was officially adopted 1918 by the United States Board on Geographic Names based on a suggestion by The Mountaineers. Precipitation runoff from the ridge drains into tributaries of the Yakima River.

Lake Laura is a small freshwater lake located within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness in a valley on the southern slope of Rampart Ridge in Kittitas County, Washington, United States. Because of its close proximity to Snoqualmie Pass, Interstate 90 and several cirque on both sides of Rampart Ridge, the lake is a common area for hiking, swimming, and fishing rainbow trout. Rocky Run Creek outflows from Lake Lillian and outflows Lake Laura along NF road 136 on Rampart Ridge Backdoor toward neighboring Keechelus Lake.

The Summit at Snoqualmie is a recreation area in the northwest United States, located on Snoqualmie Pass, Washington. It provides alpine skiing and snowboarding, Nordic skiing, mountain biking, winter tubing, and scenic lift rides. Owned and managed by Boyne Resorts, it is 52 miles (80 km) east of downtown Seattle on Interstate 90. The Summit consists of four base areas that used to be individually owned and operated resorts. Alpental, Summit West (formerly Snoqualmie Summit), Summit Central (formerly Ski Acres), and Summit East (formerly Hyak and PacWest), border Lake Keechelus on the East and the Alpine Lakes Wilderness on the West/North. The Summit at Snoqualmie is the closest ski area to Seattle, about an hour away. Ski Lifts, Inc., the operator of what became Summit West, acquired the other three resorts. Booth Creek Ski acquired the properties in 1997. Booth Creek sold The Summit to CNL Lifestyle in 2006, but continued to operate the resort under a lease. Booth Creek sold The Summit lease to Boyne Resorts in 2007. CNL Lifestyle sold Booth Creek in a batch of resorts to Och-Ziff Capital Management in 2016. Boyne purchased the ski resort in March 2018. The vertical drop ranges from 2,280 ft (690 m) at Alpental, to 765 ft (233 m) at Summit West. Combined, the four base areas have 19 chairlifts and 5 surface lifts. The resort is open seven days and six nights per week.

Rampart Lakes area a set of contiguous freshwater reservoir lakes located on the south slope of Alta Mountain, in Kittitas County, Washington. Self-issued Alpine Lake Wilderness permit required for transit within the Klonaqua Lakes area. The lake is a popular area for hiking, swimming, and fishing cutthroat trout.

Lake Lillian is a freshwater lake located within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness in a valley on the southern slope of Rampart Ridge in Kittitas County, Washington, United States. Because of its close proximity to Snoqualmie Pass, Interstate 90 and several cirque on both sides of Rampart Ridge, the lake is a common area for hiking, swimming, and fishing rainbow trout. Rocky Run Creek outflows from Lake Lillian into neighboring Lake Laura and continues toward NF road 136 on Rampart Ridge Backdoor. Lake Lillian is between Keechelus Lake on the West and Kachess Lake further East.