FYI-Black size small Adidas jacket found on trail and left at trailhead sign. 

We parked in the large lot about .25 miles before the actual trailhead parking lot which only holds a few cars and will soon be challenging to get to because of snow. Two groups were ahead of us so it was easy to follow their tracks for the first couple miles but then the snow depth makes the route get a little trickier. Be prepared to navigate yourself. At about 3 miles in, we put our snowshoes on as we had started to post hole. We turned around about a half mile short of the lake as we had limited time and wanted to be out by dark. 

There are a couple river crossings but we found them manageable. I have poor balance so I slid across one log on my butt. The last mile gets pretty steep especially since everyone just aimed up rather than try to find the switchbacks. No avalanche risk at this point but there are a few places where that may change as winter progresses.

beautiful hike, but be aware that to get to the trailhead and the parking area, you need to cross a railway into an area that is private. We did not notice that it was private on our way in and after a long, gorgeous hike were shocked to find a freight train entirely blocking the way. We were trapped as there were no other people in sight and we had know idea how long the train would be parked there. just as we resigned to sleep in our car for the night, we noticed a warning sign with an 800#. called the number and a kind dispatch woman said she would attempt to contact the conductor on our behalf, but made no guarantees. fortunately, just a few mins after our call the train pulled forward to unblock the way and we were on our way back to our campsite.

the hike itself was wonderful. very variable with a good mix of terrain. some snow patches to cross, and many creek passings. as you climb, there are areas where the trail is a bit less visible. stay vigilant! would love to hike again, and next time we'll leave the car on rt 2 to avoid any potential train mishaps.

As per the last trip report, we couldn't really go beyond the railroad tracks because of the snow, so we parked on the side of the tracks closest to the highway and walked over to the trailhead around 7am. Boots are fine until about the trailhead, where it quickly turns to deeper snow. We followed some recent, albeit dusted with snow, snowshoe and cross country ski tracks the entire time. We didn't make it to the lake due to severely reduced visibility from fog and snow, and sinking/falling over too much in one of the rock fields, but we made it 2.76 miles before turning back. Crossing the little streams multplie times was a bit nerve racking because you really couldn't tell if there was actually anything under the snow, but we made it that far without any hiccups. We did notice that we managed to end up on the "wrong" side of the river around 2.5 miles in because we were following the ski tracks, but seeing as it's winter and the snow was over everything, it didn't seem like a big deal. We did see a lone set of snowshoe tracks on the actual path across the river, but can't say for certain how far they went. Not a single other person was on the trail until we saw some people back at the railroad tracks around 11am.

Today we showshoed to Surprise Lake. Access road was impassable due to deep snow. We parked by the railroad tracks and headed up at 8:15am. We were the only ones on the trail.

Used snowshoes the entire way as the powder was deep. We followed tracks to the summer route log crossing where they stopped. Did not cross the log, instead broke trail up the right side of the drainage through deep powder. Avalanche awareness, navigation, and route finding skills are necessary for this hike. 

The route follows the drainage up the valley and crosses below avalanche terrain. Saw pinwheels and sluffs higher up, but decided it was OK to continue. At 3500ft we found a spot to cross the fast running creek. Cut over to the summer route to avoid steep terrain to our right.

As we sweated and our thighs burned from breaking trail, the sun came out. We saw how wild & beautiful the trail was today with no evidence of humans anywhere. Nature at it's most natural.

About halfway up the final steep section to the lake, 2 hikers caught up to us. They thanked us for breaking trail and offered to lead for a while. We now had a team of four to make the final (hardest) push to the lake. The boulder field at the lake's outlet was covered in pillows of powder. Our photo doesn't really show how wonderful it was. The lake itself was simply stunning.

We enjoyed a long lunch at the lake while watching the sun set low over the horizon. No issues on the descent.

Beautiful hike in the snow. A little slushy before the trailhead. We brought snowshoes but did not use them. We hiked in our snow boots. Poles were helpful. Did not make it all the way to the lake.