Today, Friday Jan. 25th, 2008 was forecasted to be the last sunny for a while so I decided to take the day off and try my new snowshoes on my first snowshoe hike. Went up to Stevens Pass to hike to Skyline Lake. Never made that hike before. Started the hike after 9am with temps in the 20’s and little wind. Found the well-packed trail and started climbing. Passed one shack on my right which I thought was some transmission tower. Later passed another shack and tower on my left; it seems to also some storage area for emergency rescue equipment.

The skies were blue without a cloud and I could see small dots going down the ski slopes on the south. I stopped several times to catch my breath and cool off since I was overdressed for snowshoeing (should not have worn a down jacket). Continued upwards and saw a few snowmobile and XC trails going to my left (westward) but I continued on the wide well-packed trail assuming this would take me to the lake but as I crested a ridge, I saw a large (cellphone?) tower with another shack and the large trail ended but no lake but a good view of a valley to the north. Saw a smaller trail through the snow that roughly followed the ridge crest, so I continued through the woods on this much smaller trail. Kept on this trail for about 20-30 minutes until it almost disappeared and saw a high knoll that I crawled up and once on top, I decided to have lunch and enjoy the scenery and feed the curious birds. Did not go to far to the edge as I did not know how much of the snow was supported and did not want to start a small avalanche with me as a ‘rider’ Not sure if the snow-clad mountain to the north was Mt Baker since it did not have the familiar profile. But no lake. Missed it somehow. Started back by following my tracks. Once back on the well-packed trail, I saw another snowshoer coming up and I asked him if he knew where Lake Skyline was. He said he did not know of a ‘Lake Skyline’ but there was a lake off the main trail to the west. He said to take one of the small side trails and after 5-10mins, I saw a large flat snow-covered area criss-crossed with snowmobile and ski tracks which I assumed was the frozen lake… more a large pond. Sat down on the back of my snowshoes and leaned against my back back to take a short rest and enjoy the blue sky. After 10 mins, headed back. The snowshoes had great traction on the way down which, together with the trekking poles, made it a pleasure so that I could enjoy the winter views. Back by 12:30. A trail guide book says the hike to Skyline Lake is 3 mile round trip with an elevation gain of 1100ft. My blunderings made my trip longer and higher.