This road ski starts at the Hyak aka PacWest aka Summit East parking lot. We climbed up through the shallow, weed ""enhanced"" snow to the road and proceeded left above Lake Keechelus. The road has, at best, a few inches of snow and is enhanced in this area by wet spots which cause snow to cling to the bottom of skis. Oh, well, more snow than last year and it was a pretty pleasant day. Meandered up the road and the snow gets deeper. Oh, yes, neglected to mention that obviously four-wheel vehicles have been recently ""plowing"" up the road so that there are wheel ruts all the way to the beginning of the long switchbacks below Windy Pass (Pacific Crest Trail crossing). Finally, at the switchback the ruts stopped and the snowshoe tracks thinned out. Near the end of that first switchback we overtook the snowshoers and apparently they turned back at that point. Other skiers had already broken trail and we followed their tracks. While there probably is a foot to a foot and a half, the tracks were only about 3 inches deep. We turned around after achieving our view of Granite Mt and neighboring peaks. Stopped for lunch out of the breeze and quickly headed on down. Wax skis (mine) were considerably faster than my friend's patterned bases. She poled down and I had to brake. The uneven snow, ruts and snowshoe tracks made for interesting terrain. All in all - good day. Mostly cloudy with some brief but pleasant sunbreaks. REI and other shops do need to post a courtesy chart politely informing snowshoers that they need to break their own trail and not use cross country ski tracks.

The weather was perfect for this hike - sunny, 70 and a constant gentle breeze. No obstacles to report. However, there were lots of annoying bugs though none of the biting kind yet. Berries should be ripe in about a month. Views from the summit are excellent as usual. Encountered one group coming down as we went up. Definitely a good trail for weekday solitude.

After doing Gothic Basin the day before, I figure an easier hike was in order. So Sally and I picked hiking up Mt. Catherine near Snoqualmie Pass as neither of us had been up it. After a short road walk from the trailhead, the trail begins switchbacking up through the trees to the ridge top. The trail then follows the ridge with views to the north and the Snoqualmie Pass area. A few more switchbacks and we were a short distance from the summit. An old electical box laying by the trail is passed from when a radio beacon was installed on Mt. Catherine in the 1930's for airplanes going over the pass. The last section to the top is steep and muddy with an old piece of wire cable to use as a hand hold. From the summit at 5,052' we had a nice view south to Mt. Rainier, with Silver Peak just across the valley. Up north are the peaks of the Snoqaulmie Pass area, great views all around. The summit did have some other visiters, a hoard of gnats. Met only three other parties on the trail. There were lots of different types of mushroom popping out. The radio beacon is long gone but the nice hike is still here. Only one mud hole to get over. Check this one out.

We had intended to do this loop as described in ""Loop Hikes in Washington"" (Hike 65 - Silver Peak), but we, um, missed the Cold Creek Trail head and ended up at Windy Pass. I recommend doing the loop in the direction described in the Loop Hikes book (clockwise, starting at the Cold Creek Trailhead) instead of the way that we did it (counterclockwise starting at Windy Pass). The climb from Twin Lakes to the junction with the PCT would be a hard climb, but as a descent it's a somewhat treacherous knee-buster. At any rate, we had beautiful weather and beautiful temperatures. The trails were all in great shape, if just a few muddy spots and some areas of the Mt. Catherine Trail and the Cold Creek Trail a bit brushy with wildflowers. There was plenty of water along the trail. The mosquitos couldn't keep up with us if we were walking, but were a bit of a nuisance at Mirror and Cottonwood lakes. The wildflowers we saw included Small Tiger Lily, Scarlet Paintbrush, Alpine Aster, Monkshood, Tall Bluebell, Purple Lupine, Subalpine Spirea, Columbine, Western Buttercup, Marshmarigold, Trillium, Vanillaleaf, Beargrass, Bleeding Heart, Bunchberry, and Queen's cup was everywhere. It was a great day for amphibians, with five frog and two garter snake sightings. There were also American Dippers in full force at Twin Lakes and at some small ponds along the stretch of the PCT between Mirror Lake and Windy Pass. There was also a Spotted Sandpiper at Twin Lakes, a Varied Thrush on the descent to Mirror Lake, and Dark-eyed Juncos everywhere.

I read about this one in one of the 100 hikes books, the weekend called for the usual grey skies and rain I was looking for a short hike. I arrived at the Twin Lake trail head around 12:30. The trail to Twin Lake is in pretty good shape. It looks as if it is getting a little over grown though. There was much brush along the trail although it was well defined. There were a few spots where it was bog-like and my boots sunk in a little bit. In a few other spots the trail was completely covered by 4-6 inches of water. There were at least 5 blow-downs and at least 3 of them were rough to bypass. I was able to see Vanilla leaf in flower, Red Huckleberry, Coltsfoot, Trillum, Canadian Dogwood, Creeping Raspberry, Salal, Thimbleberry, Tall Yellow Violet, Bleeding Heart, Fireweed, there was also something else that looked just like the Tall Yellow Violet but it was a bluish purple, It was not in my book. Maybe it is Tall Violet or something. In the marshy areas I saw Marsh Marigold, and 1 Skunk Cabbage plant that seemed a little out of place as I saw no others. I did notice that there were some weeds popping up in a few spots and some Herb Robert that was trying to take a foothold. I saw the beginings of Devils club and Bear Grass. Also, a lot of waterfalls were around that were flowing pretty good. You have to cross a few roads but it is no problem as the way is obvious. Follow the rock karnes. There are signs. I took the detour to the lake on the return from Mt Catherine. Twin Lake is hardly a small dust bowl. There is a large campsite right before the lake. I had to wear my rain pants as the swordfern and berry bushes were a little over grown and very wet. I was back to the lumina at around 3:30. I am glad that I did this hike as I am more familiar with the area now and have some good pictures even though it was cloudy. I am sure on a clear summer day it would be great, but the views are still limited. Margaret lake on the other side of I-90 is well more rewarding even with the clearcut.