The weather was moody in the higher Teanaway elevations today! It's getting cold out there, and snowy too!
I wanted to see the larches and wasn't going to have time to go to the north Cascades, so I hustled a trip up to Lake Ann just to take a peek and I am really glad I did. I LOVE a day with wild weather! The clouds and fog were cold but spectacular.
Anyway, the road is a lot rougher than it was just a couple weeks ago when I was up there, no doubt due to the massive crowds at Ingalls recently. It's still mostly washboard stuff though, a few potholes, but nothing major. I've seen it much worse.
Trail was in great shape. Snow was intermittent until we turned off onto the trail to Lake Ann, then it was pretty consistent an inch to probably 3 inches in some places. I didn't have spikes or poles and didn't feel I needed either, though your comfort level may be different. I started down the trail from the ridge to Lake Ann, which is now mostly frozen, and went about half way then decided against it because there was quite a bit of snow on the slope and I didn't have any gear at all. The pup couldn't have gone swimming anyway since it was frozen, so we played in the snow instead.
It was a fast trip because I had to get to an appointment, but totally worth the effort. We arrived around 10:30 and got the closest spot to the trailhead- HA! Crazy luck somehow! When we left around 2:30 there were just a few cars overflowing the parking lot. I think the rain kept people away today. I think I passed 7 people all day.
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