T&M broke trail to about 3000' last weekend. Six of us refreshed the track and continued the break to 4000+'. 500' gain in deep but consolidating powder remain until the lake. Your turn :-)

Suprise Lk trail had fresh snow on Thurday night and snow consistency was like sugar on Saturday - loose and granular. A previous party (maybe Friday) had forged a route - but on the wrong side of suprise creek. Should have taken the route proper (crossed Suprise Creek at about 2-2.5 miles from trailhead) and busted the correct route as we were very close to avalanche run-outs. At about 3 miles finally crossed creek and began final approach to lake. No one had been past our creek crossing for sometime so our party of two had to forge a new trail in. Snow quantity caused us to turn around in the late afternoon. Stopped at 3600 ft. elevation. Steep terrain and the late hour all added up to a tiring but enjoyable day.

Our original plan for the Rainier area changed at the last minute and we ended up at Surprise Lake. Drove to the trailhead under thinly overcast sky and found the turnoff to the trailhead well plowed. We were able to get over the train tracks with chains but found that is where the plowed section ends. We had some difficulty getting back over the tracks afterward so you might want to be careful unless you have a 4x4. There are several ""no-parking"" signs around and it looks like a sand-loading area for plows so be careful where you park. At the trailhead the snow was only a few inches but by the time we climbed to the powerlines it was already over a foot deep. We put on our snowshoes and headed into the trees. There were a few inches of fresh snow but not enough to obscure the previous hikers tracks. We followed the tracks in enjoying the good snow and dry day. A little over a half mile in we came to the first small creek crossing. This one wasn't too bad but we did have to carefully step down before we could get across. Not much futher up we reached the second small creek and a very narrow foot log. This one was much trickier to get across. I scraped off the fresh snow with my shovel and we carefully balanced across on the crusty snow beneath. There were several more of these difficult narrow creek crossings. Poles help immensely, a shovel also. I wished I had brought my ice-axe. Eventually we descended down to Surprise Creek and stayed parallel to this for the rest of our trip. We followed it a ways looking for a safe crossing. We ended up below a talus slope with no obvious way around and had a break behind some huge boulders. We backtracked to where I believe the summer crossing is but were unable to find a safe place to cross because of the very deep fresh snow made even descending to the water level hard. All in all still a great snowshoe with excellent fresh snow. We may be back to try again. More trip photos: http://www.pbase.com/billcat/hiking/

In this winter of discontent, we got lucky this morning, finding 6 to 10 inches of fresh snow on the Surprise Creek trail. The trees were laden and lovely, the trail was fresh and a lot of fun. The lower portions were OK for boots, but our snowshoes came in handy on the upper trail. By midafternoon, the temperatures (high 30s) were melting some of the snow, so it's anyone's guess whether this will still be around for the weekend.

I met up with Rob (Wildernessed at nwhikers.net) at the Surprise lake trail head on RT 2 at 8:30 am, and we hit the trail at 9, with my dog Daisy along as well. There is some snow on the initial road portion of the trail, then the snow disappears when the woods are entered. There are wooden staircases all along the first part of the trail before the wilderness begins. They are in good repair and not too slippery. Lots of big trees, a gushing creek, ferns, moss, and we had sunshine. Once the 2,600 ft elevation level was gained, the snow started in earnest, but it was packed and dense, decent footing. The crossing of the creek was pretty nasty. The log bridge was slippery wood on the sides with slippery ice in the middle. ""W"" decided to straddle the log and shimmy across on his behind, using his hands to lift himself up between shimmies. I would also have done this, but Daisy wouldn't cross the log. So I decided to wade the creek with the dog. I had brought an extra pair of boots in the dog's pack for this very use, so I stripped out of my gaiters, boots and socks, put on the spare boots, and just walked across the creek at a likely spot just upstream from the log. The water was numbingly cold and deeper than it looked. Daisy almost got swept downstream a bit by the strong current, but she fought her way across. I used my flannel shirt to dry my feet and the dog, re-booted, and we were off again, the wet boots left behind for use again on the return. As we continued on and up, the trail grade was gentle, but the snow got deeper and softer. We floundered through the open spots, postholing up to mid-thigh. Then the trail steepens, and starts switchbacking a bit, and the snow just got worse. There were sections where there was no snow as well. I eventually realized that Surprise lake was not on my agenda for the day. It was 1:00, we had been hiking for four hours, had gone 3 1/2 miles through tough conditions, gained 1,850 VF, but we were still a bit over 1/2 mile from the lake, and 700 more VF. Wildernessed continued on while the dog and I made a picnic camp at a nice flat area with a view and no snow at 3,850 ft. He made it to the lake just before 2:00, hung out a bit, and made it back to me and Daisy around 3. We high-tailed it out at full speed for the conditions, the post-holing easier to overcome on the way down. It took us 2 1/2 hours to get back to the vehicles from the picnic spot, without any rest breaks. The wade across the creek was even colder the second time, and the water was higher, too. There was a lot more snow than I had anticipated. We saw depths of 4 feet or more above 3,000 ft. And there is a lot more water in the snow pack than it appears, since the snow is that ultra-dense cascade concrete usually found later in the year. With some colder weather to prevent further melting, and a couple of good snow dumps, we may be able to take showers next summer after all.