Heather Lake, Boardman Lake
Jan 24, 2010
by
Donald Shank
—
last modified
Jan 24, 2010 08:04 PM
- Type of Outing
- Day hike
- Read More in our Hiking Guide
- Hike: Heather Lake
- Region: North Cascades -- Mountain Loop Highway
- Agency: Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, Darrington District
- Trails: Heather Lake (#701)
- Avg Rating: 3.68
- Read More in our Hiking Guide
- Hike: Boardman Lake
- Region: North Cascades -- Mountain Loop Highway
- Agency: Mt. Baker - Snoqualmie National Forest - Darrington District
- Trails: Boardman Lake (#704)
- Avg Rating: 3.00
Where is winter?
A beautiful morning for an April hike...in January. The trail through the forest was 45 degrees, high clouds but no rain so quite comfortable in just a fleece jacket, which I had to open to vent the heat of the 1100' climb. The trail was snow free all the way to the lake.
The trail around the lake was mostly snow free, but watch out for the few patches on the west and south sides of the lake. The snow has thawed and frozen again, and it has been polished to glass smoothness by the boots of many hikers. Take care and stay off it when you can.
The wind kicked up on the south and west sides as well, making it feel more like it was 25 degrees, so we stopped to put on another layer. An interesting sight on the lake's south shore was a stand of trees that had recently been snapped in two about 10 to 15 feet up their trunks. There were no boulders, and there sure hasn't been enough snow for an avalanche to have done that this winter, so I think that it may have been a microburst, a very localized column of sinking air, producing damaging divergent and straight-line winds at the surface that can snap a two foot diameter tree like a twig. Standing in the brisk wind at the bottom of this bowl, looking up at the steep cliffs, I was thankful that today's wind was only a stiff breeze.
It was still early when we got back to the car, so we decided to take in the short trip to nearby Boardman Lake. After stopping in 1/10th of a mile to view scenic little Evan Lake, we climbed 300' in 3/4ths of a mile in a light snow. I think this trail and destination were both prettier than Heather Lake. I almost passed it up because it was too easy. Most of the time it doesn't seem like a "real" hike to me until I've invested some sweat and toil to earn it, but I was glad I talked myself into it.
It began snowing pretty heavily at the lake, big feather sized flakes, so we headed back down. By the time we hit Granite Falls we were driving in steady rain, but I'm happy to say that I didn't feel my first raindrop until I was in my own driveway. I'll chalk today up as a victory!
The trail around the lake was mostly snow free, but watch out for the few patches on the west and south sides of the lake. The snow has thawed and frozen again, and it has been polished to glass smoothness by the boots of many hikers. Take care and stay off it when you can.
The wind kicked up on the south and west sides as well, making it feel more like it was 25 degrees, so we stopped to put on another layer. An interesting sight on the lake's south shore was a stand of trees that had recently been snapped in two about 10 to 15 feet up their trunks. There were no boulders, and there sure hasn't been enough snow for an avalanche to have done that this winter, so I think that it may have been a microburst, a very localized column of sinking air, producing damaging divergent and straight-line winds at the surface that can snap a two foot diameter tree like a twig. Standing in the brisk wind at the bottom of this bowl, looking up at the steep cliffs, I was thankful that today's wind was only a stiff breeze.
It was still early when we got back to the car, so we decided to take in the short trip to nearby Boardman Lake. After stopping in 1/10th of a mile to view scenic little Evan Lake, we climbed 300' in 3/4ths of a mile in a light snow. I think this trail and destination were both prettier than Heather Lake. I almost passed it up because it was too easy. Most of the time it doesn't seem like a "real" hike to me until I've invested some sweat and toil to earn it, but I was glad I talked myself into it.
It began snowing pretty heavily at the lake, big feather sized flakes, so we headed back down. By the time we hit Granite Falls we were driving in steady rain, but I'm happy to say that I didn't feel my first raindrop until I was in my own driveway. I'll chalk today up as a victory!
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OK, at least it's winterish...
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