Three words - VERY, VERY ICY! Beautiful, brisk, sunny November Saturday. The ice starts not too long after the trailhead. You could walk the outside edges of the trail in some parts to avoid some of the ice, but not always. Plus, on our way back, we noticed the trail had widened quite a bit from others doing the same thing, and the outer parts were starting to ice up a little, too. 4.5 miles to the lake. The two big waterfalls along the trail are mostly frozen - looks kinda neat! The lake is freezing over nicely for winter. Everything's freezing! As you got closer to the lake, the snow got deeper and the scenery became more like a beautiful winter wonderland. Encountered several others on our way back. It seemed to me they got a late start, so I sure hope they got back before dark. I sure wouldn't want to be dealing with the ice in the dark! Didn't need snowshoes, but I'm thinking cramp-ons might not have been a bad idea!

Hit the trailhead around 11:00am, and proceeded on under the threat of snow. A couple of workers were putting on the finishing touches on the new bridge by the ""slides"". Starting snowing heavily by the time I reached the falls and continued until I hit the lake. A good 3-4 "" fell at the pass in the lake basin. The hike down was pleasant until the snow turned to rain and I was wading through the mud on the way down. Kudos to the trail team for the new steps and bridge!

The Roos beat back Hawthorn to take a notch against the Dees in the Preliminary Finals next weegend. Goodonya mates. The only log across the trail is 180 metres before the lake. This one has been there a long time and has a notch worn out which has been used as a step. There are some brushy sections, particularly on the switchbacks towards Hemlock Pass. The weather was overcast with showers, heavy at times. The mozzies appear to have abated. With the freezing level dropping to 1200 metres overnight, I should hope so.

This is a routine hike to a beutiful sub-alpine lake, but well-worth the trip. Just over the hill from Snow Lake, it seems to get less use by day-hikers, and is a nice destination for an overnight excursion. We had planned to start the hike from the Denny Creek trailhead, and because of information I found on the web, we had planned a late start due to road construction nearby. As we drove up the hwy. towards the campground, the readerboard confirmed that the road would be open by 2PM. However, we reached the road crew at 2:15, who would not let us pass. Therefore, we ended up adding 3/4ths of a mile both directions to the 8 mile round-trip hike. Once we were off the gooey blacktop, and actually on the trail, the hike became very pleasant. Recent trail crews had added new erosion steps to the first half-mile of the trail, making the going very comfortable. The huckleberries along the trail were a traditional delight for this time of year. Aside from the unseen visitor rolling rocks down the hillside above Denny Falls, we were the only ones on the trail this afternoon. The mosquitos were not bad on this trip, but watch out for the flies! They are having a great year, much to our chagrin at leaving the bug juice at home. Once we arrived at the lake, we enjoyed an evening meal watching the trout enjoy the abundance of insects on this warm day. Hiking out, we enjoyed a splendid sunset, and skirted the campground on our way to the car. The trail is very clear of debris right now, and it looks as if a trail crew has recently cut back the foliage most of the way up. Be sure to bring plenty of water, since the trail covers many open areas, and there are few creeks to cross.

Snow free to Melakwa Lake. The lake is all melted out. About 50% snow covered to the pass. If going to the pass stay to the right of the patch of trees just below the pass. It's easier than the left side. 100% snow covered north of the pass but I saw several people take an exhilarating slide down on the butts on their way to the Snow Lake trail head.