This is one of my favorite areas to backpack in, the Alpine Lake Wilderness. My preferred camp site is right on Surprise Lake, though there are more if you continue on to Glacier Lake. I’ve camped here twice, one in the winter and another time last summer, both were very pleasant, but you should be warned that there aren’t any amenities, and you definitely need to bring a water filter. Also it can easily be much colder at the lake than Skykomish.

No promises, but I haven’t found it to be overly crowded, seems like more people do it as a day hike (only 11 miles round trip, but you could connect up with the PCT to increase milage). I’ll let the pictures do the real selling.