Beautiful sunny day for a hike, read where there was still a lot of snow on the trail so I took my snowshoes for a ride. The little bit of snow that was there should be gone by the time I write this. My snowshoes enjoyed the trip firmly attached to my pack. Few blow downs, a little mud to walk around from melting snow - arrived dry.

No bugs.

I arrived at the trailhead via paved and well-signed FS road 1260 about 12:30, one of only three cars in a parking lot that probably holds close to fifty in the summer. For some reason, the Northwest Forest Pass signs were all covered up. All the services were in place, though -- I challenge you to find a cleaner, less odiferous vault toilet in a national forest!

The elevation gain is minimal over the well-maintained trail. You can easily make it to the lake (4.6 miles) in under two hours. There is ankle-deep snow beginning about a mile from the lake -- in another few weeks it should be nothing but a muddy memory. There's also some blow-down, but just one up-and-over. Tons of deer sightings on the road up, but none on the trail.

Due to time constraints, I had limited time to enjoy the lake. I did a quick look around the guard station, which is only occupied in the summer. There's a cool restoration of the old 1910 ranger station going on. I crossed the bridge to scout the campsites, but turned around at the first blow-down.

I took the ATV trail (unsigned, but the Green Trails map identifies it as #74) back to the trailhead. Although it shortened the return route, I probably will take the more scenic main trail back next time. There's a large blow-down that will stop anything on wheels, about a half mile from the lake. Just one car -- mine -- when I got back.

The trail to Packwood Lake is mostly snow free with a few blow-downs on the trail. We had to leave the trail a couple of times to avoid or climb over blow-downs, but most of the blow-downs were small enough to walk over. We did walk on snow between 1-3' deep for the last 20-30 minutes as we approached the lake, but the trail was easy to follow.

We continued around the lake and walked a portion of the Upper Lake Creek trail. When we reached some cairns marking the trail, the snow was deeper and wide spread enough that we decided to turn back after

checking our watches.

After returning to the ranger station we opted for the road/trail back to the parking lot. There is still snow on the road, but nothing deeper than a couple of feet. The road was blocked by a large blow-down that was about 5 feet tall a point where there was no way around it, so it was up and over. The walk back on the road was easier and provided views of the Cowlitz and Mt. Rainier.

The mushrooms were amazing! We must have seen a dozen different kind growing everywhere. The trail was great too - not too busy it being fall and rainy. Good campsite at far end of lake.