Nice way to start the new year with friends on the trail. The weather was excellent. Parking at the trailhead is accessible if your vehicle has high clearance. If not, park by the railroad tracks. The trail is in good condition and well trodden. We used traction the whole way, microspikes and snowshoes. The snow is very icy in some spots, especially under the trees and on the bridges.

We (me and my dog) did a nice snowshoe to Surprise Gap today. I was hoping for views of the Glacier Peak, but there were some very persistent clouds in the Stevens Pass area that blocked all views. The valley of the Surprise Creek itself was clear though, so still some great views! The snow conditions where very good, so very enjoyable overall. Some notes on the conditions: - Parked at the railroad - I started using snowshoes after the log crossing. Before that, snow does not always cover the entire trail. - The trail is very nicely packed until the switchbacks. The switchbacks themselves had fresh snow that obscured the trail a bit. Fortunately, two friendly skiers left from the parking area at roughly the same time and they were kind enough to break trail on the switchbacks. The skiers were the only people I met during the day. From the tracks I saw on the way back, it looked like they went in the direction of Trap Pass. - After Surprise Lake, there were no indications that other people have been in the area. Breaking trail was not too bad though: under the trees there is a solid crust, and in the open area there is ~0.5-1 foot of powder snow on top of a very solid crust. Overall quite pleasant. - The Surprise Gap area had a couple of small avalanches (see photos), but there is not a ton of snow, so it didn't seem dangerous to me. It's pretty steep to get up there, so I left a nice trail of switchbacks. I left the trailhead (with my brave dog) at 7:30am. I was at Surprise Lake at 10:30am, and at Surprise at 1pm. Back at the car at 4pm. More photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/sets/72157638997454865/

What a fun day on the trail. Road to TH: One more good snow and you will have to park once you cross the rail road tracks but as of now if you have high clearance 4x4 you can still make it to the summer trail head. I have a jeep and had no problems but the other two couples that were on the trail today parked back by the tracks. Trail conditions: No blow downs on the lower half of the trail. Snow was wet and heavy but not that deep so was easy to break trail today. No avalanche danger as there is still not enough snow to worry about. BIG TIP: We brought sleds with us and had a blast on the hill right above the summer trail head it's perfect for it. We arrived at the trail head about 11 and geared up and headed up the trail. Could have done with out the snowshoes today but they did provide a bit more traction and they were half of the reason to be out today. The other half was to be able to do a little sledding on our return so we left the sleds at the top of the hill before heading off into the trees on the trail proper. We made it all the way up to the first of the talus fields just about to the two mile mark before we turned back. Only saw two other couples out on the trail. When we got back to the trail head we spent an hour or so having a blast sledding here. So over all a great day on the trail snowshoeing then sledding and snow ball fights. What more could you ask for on a winters day.

What better way to celebrate summery April weather than a day of snoeshowing!? My brother and I packed up some sandwiches and bolted (read as: crawled) out of town for Stevens Pass, making it to the mountains by about 10am. There's a nice parking lot plowed just past the train tracks, a short walk from the summer trailhead - we only saw one other car there in the morning, despite our late start. On the topic of that late start, we fought some soft and slippery snow all the way up and down. This hike is awesome but I'd want to get headed up a couple hours earlier if I did it again. We were relatively discerning with our steps, but both of us put a foot through a couple feet of sun-softened snow on our walk back from the lake, and were probably lucky to escape without any twisted knees or ankles. All in all it was a good refresher as far as snow evaluating basics are concerned. The views were decent on the way up the creek, with what must be Windy Mountain capping the view back to the north. Better views were to be had once we made it to Surprise Lake, which is just barely starting to thaw out at the far north and south ends. Spark Plug and Thunder Mountains beckoned in the distance. We found a nice resting place right around where the summer campsites must be, kicked back, and enjoyed a picnic before turning around and racing the sun back to the car. For my money, the creek valley was at its most beautiful in the hour just after the sun had barely dipped past the western ridge - plenty well lit for hiking, but dominated by the muted blueish haze of dusk rather than the brilliant white snowy glare we sunglassed away during the day.

First outing of the year. Access: the road is plowed out just across the tracks with plenty of parking. Trail: The trail is easy to follow as this is a popular snowshoe trek. Only had two trees down across the trail just a short ways into the woods. Both are easy to navigate over as they are almost barrier now. Most of the stream crossings are easy to navigate and the creek crossing at 1.5 is wide and well packed. I got a late start so I only made it about 3 miles in before I turned back. I did find two trails to follow one on each side of the creek and I saw only one place where there had been a small avalanche.