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I took a friend in need (who’s not up for a hard core trip) for a nice snowshoe walk along Lake Keechelus on the East side of Snoqualmie Summit.

Hyak is an awesome snowpark. Great parking, flat if you want an easy day, groomed trails if you want them, and HEATED bathrooms with indoor plumbing.

We left my place at 9:00 AM (leaving before that to drive North on a regular work day is just stoopid because you get stuck in commuter traffic; no thanks)

We did have a small bit of traffic excitement as the right lane of eastbound I-90, west of the summit, was closed due to a snow slide (it was a bit too “weenie” to call an actual avalanche)

The weather forecast is for a beautiful weekend (I have a Mt Rainier trip planned for tomorrow) but today we were getting hit with the tip of a storm and had a 50% chance of rain.

We did see a bit of “snowballing” at the beginning of the trail that is a sure sign of avalanche danger (we weren’t in an avalanche zone) so I’ll be very careful tomorrow and take the routes that completely avoid the avalanche zones.

We arrived to spring like weather (OK one degree above freeing IS “spring like” here) and “the orb” (that would be the sun for those of you who actually see it in the winter) even made a brief appearance as did the color blue in the sky (what WAS the water doing up there?)

It was one of those wonderful days where we know how lucky we are to live here (and why we don’t off ourselves in the winter) and everyone was chatting with everyone else on the trail (this is a very friendly place anyway)

We snowshoed alongside the ski trails in the fresh snow (I broke trail, and am I ever tired) for about an hour and a half and then had lunch. It only took us a little over an hour to get back because towards the end it started to rain and we were not amused.

We hauled butt back to the truck. We arrived just before we would have been soaked (I was a bit damp)

The trip back was even MORE exciting than the trip up as the interstate had one lane blocked in THREE places due to snowslides (one, I'll call a real avalanche)

We stopped off at the Starbucks in North Bend for peppermint hot chocolate and where I was finally tempted to try a cupcake. I mean come on, how good could a cupcake be at a chain that recently tried to make their baked goods more healthy? (asks the woman who only bakes with butter) I’ve never been a huge fan of Starbuck’s backed goods anyway.

But their vanilla cupcake?

OMG !!!

If you’ve ever seen the movie ‘When Harry Met Sally”, you’ll understand my reaction to that cupcake.

The pictures are available here:

http://www.wildcelticrose.net/lisasplace/keechelus0208.html

~L

This morning we were joined by Rick, Joe, and Carol. Keechelus Ridge is an old stand-by for us when we want a fairly short snowshoe trip with minimal avalanche danger. We have been up on the ridge four times, but have taken a slightly different route on each visit.

Today we stayed on the west side of Price Creek (as usual), but stayed on the ridge just above the creek most of the way, which kept us off the road almost the whole trip (other than crossing it a few times). The views are quite nice from the open meadow on Keechelus Ridge.

Distance: 6 miles RT

Elevation Gain: 2500ft.

time: 2:20 up, 1:15 down

snowshoes useful on the road and essential off the road. we broke trail to the radio towers. too many snowmobilers, a lot of fumes.