I took a friend who has only snowshoed a few times to Nordic Pass. I was under the mistaken impression we might get open views at our destination, but I should have done better research because the pass is totally forested. Still, the scenery along the way was really lovely and it was a great place for my friend to get her feet wet (figuratively). You could take this trail while it's dumping snow and not worry you're missing out on distant views or about avalanche danger.

We parked in the Silver Fir parking lot and strapped on our snowshoes immediately. The Nordic Pass trail was well-traveled and easy to follow until Hyak Lake. From there, the trail bypasses the lake clockwise. We went counterclockwise and soon found ourselves at Grand Central. We headed down along the side of a groomed trail in the direction of Rockdale Lake. The groomed path circles the lake but does not actually glimpse it. The easiest way to reach the lake is to find an obvious tunnel between the trees on the far side of the lake. We discovered this access point while searching for a way out after crashing between some denser trees on our way in.

We traveled cross-country over and around Point 3800 to rejoin the Blue Diamond-marked Nordic Pass trail and followed that to the end. We planned to follow the Blue Diamonds all the way back on our return trip, but we lost them just past the spot where we had originally found them (after traveling cross country from Rockdale Lake), so we followed our own tracks home instead. When we hit NF-110, we didn't go back (left) toward Grand Central. Instead, we took a right onto NF-110 and then rejoined the Nordic Pass trail.

After we escaped the gravitational pull of the parking lot, we saw maybe three other people all day. We broke trail through fresh snow beginning shortly after we left Rockdale Lake. All that pow meant we had a lot of woodland critter tracks to keep us company, including two areas absolutely packed with owl prints.

Snowshoed around at the Hyak ski area for a nice while. I went straight up one of the bigger runs and explored Mt Hyak. Snow might have been 2 or 3 feet at the top, very nice and crusty. Lovely snowshoe conditions while the lifts aren't running.

For this day-after-Thanksgiving trip, we met at the parking area near the Silver Fir Lodge (the Silver Fir Lodge parking lot was closed) and put on our snowshoes at the forest entrance to the cross over trail heading south to the Nordic Pass trail. Here there was a packed trail and a few water crossings that required wide strides to cross. Deeper snow will probably solve the later. After crossing the bridge over Hyak Creek, we went off-trail through untrodden snow to progress uphill. Occasionally crossing other's snowshoe tracks. At Hyak Lake, we were unsuccessful in finding a passage on the north side due to too much open water but found a route south of the lake. From there, headed uphill through the trees, more or less straight west to Grand Junction. Had lunch at Grand Junction with only 4 snowboarders passing by downhill on FR9070. We continued uphill via FR9070 to the top of the Silver Fir chair lift, then made out way downhill along the south edge of the ski slope. Here there were several open, no-snow soggy areas to cross. Total trip = 4 miles, ascent 1040'

Easy- to-follow bootpack to Hyak Lake; from there it's a choose-your-own-adventure! GPS and routefinding skills definitely recommended, as the blue blazes can be a challenge to find, and there's not a clearly-broken trail after you leave the lake.

We did this in snowshoes, but I think it would probably be more fun skiing... lots of sidehilling and rolling hills that were a challenge in snowshoes.

No real view at the end, but plenty of solitude (though I'd expect that might be different if the resort were open).

There's no hiking trail to Mt. Hyak, but since it's the high point of the (now closed) ski area, it's not hard to figure out how to get there. We climbed up the Hyak face to the Outer Loop and headed to climber's right. The Outer Loop took us to Sarah's and then Sissy's and finally to the summit.

Other than getting some time outside the house, a big part of this trip was getting some time in with our ice axes before spring climbing season really begins. The Hyak face was super icy and a perfect training ground for glissading and arresting. Plus, super fast, fun, and the views were incredible at sunset.