I planned to hike a loop from the Esmerelda Trailhead over Longs Pass to approach Lake Ingalls from the north and then back to the trailhead via Ingalls Pass. This worked with one significant change -- including a detour to the Beverly Turnpike trail trail and Ingalls Creek trail -- and a caveat about the trail around Lake Ingalls.
Road: washboard, but otherwise good condition.
Snow: only a dusting on the top of Longs Pass in the morning; 2-3 inches of snow at Stuart Pass, in Lake Ingalls basin, and through to Ingalls Pass. None between Ingalls Pass and the trailhead in the afternoon.
Overview:
The hike up to Longs Pass was uneventful, but I didn't find the junction to Longs Pass trail 1229 going down the other side. (I think I just didn't turn left at the top, I turned right.) But this was serendipitous. There's a steep road grade, not mapped, down from the southeast end of the ridge that leads to the prospect site. That made it easy going, and from the prospect site it's open forest so I went cross country to the Beverly Turnpike trail 1391. No snow throughout that whole section. That trail is in good shape so I followed Turnpike Creek to the Ingalls Creek trail and went up to Stuart Pass for lunch and then to the north end of Lake Ingalls. Up to this point I didn't see a single person, real solitude! Snow was not at all an issue up to that point, just a small dusting here and there towards the pass, with more consistent covering from Stuart Pass to the lake.
The trail from Stuart Pass to the north end of Lake Ingalls is harder to find especially with the small amount of snow. Some very minor scrambling up a rock or two, but not a significant challenge if you stay on trail -- there are a few cairns but not consistently. The lake appears out of nowhere -- amazing how hidden it is!
That's when things got interesting. The trail around the west end of Lake Ingalls is not really a trail, at least not when there's snow. I was able to make it work because the snow was only 2-3 inches deep, dense and sticky, and the streams coming down were flowing, not frozen. It was really slow going, it's scrambling over boulders the whole way, and I had to step into the lake at one point to get around a large boulder. Any more snow would have made it too dicy for me, and once freezing it would be impassable because of ice on the boulders that lead down to the lake. It might still work this weekend if it stays warm or if the snow melts, but that trail on the west side of the lake is probably not a good option until snowmelt next summer.
But today I was able to make it fine to the south end of the lake, and lots of people at the lake and on the way down. The views at the lake and over Ingalls Pass are amazing! I can see why it's a popular hike. Most people had traction devices, I didn't use my spikes since the snow was soft on the section between the lake and Ingalls Pass by the time I went through in the afternoon.
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