Snow Lake — Thursday, Jun. 30, 2022

Bottom Line: The trail up to the saddle overlooking the lake has lots of running water (beautiful waterfalls, and areas where the trail itself is a creek), but also areas of snow where there remains a possibility of postholing (although probably minimal risk of injury at this point). On the other hand, the backside down to the lake is still snowed in and I had to try two different routes before getting to the lake (with an uncontrolled slide on the 1st route attempted). The lake is thawing out near the falls outlet below the saddle. The trail and lake today were simply STUNNING in the bright sunshine. Proper equipment and route finding skills needed on the backside (more below).

NOTE: Forgot my camera today, so only phone pics :)

Stats:

• Distance: 6-3/4 miles
• Duration: 3-1/4 hours
• Vertical: 1780 ft
• Weather: Beautiful sunshine; ~72F in the parking lot, and cooler on the backside; no wind; mosquitoes a bit of a nuisance if you stop on the lower front-side trail in the woods, but much better as you ascend; the smell of the trail at the bottom - time travel back to spring!
• Trail: BEAUTIFUL day; trail is not entirely clear of snow to the saddle; there are significant stretches of snow, especially at lower elevations; you will come across the first patches of snow in the woods mere minutes from the trailhead; lots of evidence of postholing, although the snow drift depth, and their location on a well-defined trail, make the risk of injury from postholing likely minimal; lots of beautiful waterfalls on the way up, and areas where water is flowing on the trail itself; recommend waterproof boots; the backside down to the lake is a whole different ballgame; I used snowshoes, but found myself breaking trail, having uncontrolled slides, and postholing (with the snowshoes on!!) up to my waist on the summer trail; I ended up using a different trail on the far right side of the slope (see map), glissading down, and comfortably ascending (although basically straight up the hill so a bit of a puffer) on my return; I would recommend one NOT FOLLOW my path down the summer route (mine are the only tracks right now as I kicked out a traverse on a steep slope, but the slope becomes so steep is it hard not to slide); there are clear sunny areas under the trees in the saddle suitable for camping even though there is a lot of snow (one tent there today); the creek flowing into the lake below the saddle is clear of snow, including the crossing to head towards Gem Lake; for the backside, poles with powder baskets, and snowshoe or yaks (although folks with these were postholing) are a must; the backside is not a casual hike right now: be careful; 2 treefall areas early in the trail cleared
• Parking: Very few people and tons of parking; it was spectacular today, so a little surprised how few people were hiking
• Flowers: There are early season flowers about, including avalanche lilies (which do not last long, so saw spent ones too), trillium and bleeding hearts; we will have to wait awhile for more mid-season flowers, although did see one spot with bear grass on the switchbacks up to the saddle, and areas of buttercups and penstemon
• Animals: The pika are out and sounding their usual alarms as you pass by :) (you'd think they would be used to it on this busy trail!)
• Takeaway: Lots of snow, but truly a different experience from a hike after the melt off, and absolutely STUNNING today in the bright sunshine; the backside is more challenging and requires proper equipment, trail finding, and paying attention to posthole and snow-bridge hazards (especially flowing water under the snow)

NOTE: Per the sign at the beginning of the trail, the trail will close on approximately July 15th through September for construction. Hopefully the lake will melt out in the next two weeks - would like to head up with my pack-raft. A little skeptical that July 14th will look like it did last year. Get out there while you can! :)

The attached 4K video really shows the trail conditions from the trailhead all the way through to the lake. There appears to be avalanche debris on the ice away from shore - you can see in the pictures and video. I could not figure out what direction that might have come from!

More Information on this Trip Report

• https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/mbs/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD1029046