After Saturday's storm there was a TON of fresh snow at the Pass so we headed up early to visit Hyak Lake. The Hyak overflow lot was mostly empty at 7am (full when we returned around 11am) and the plows have been working hard to keep the roads drivable. The road walk was easy and the snow bank where you leave the road has a cut to get up.
Snowshoes are required immediately with over four feet of snow. We used the wider log upstream to cross the creek and then *tried* to follow the diamonds with mixed results. New snow meant we were sometimes successful and sometimes completely off track. Honestly, though, that's one of the reasons I love snowshoeing and this trail in particular. You can go pretty much wherever you want and as long as you can navigate, you're in good shape.
We broke trail, jumped on someone else's trail, diverged and broke trail again. Early season means there are still lots of spots where we wallowed and there was even some open water for the dog.
Since Hyak wasn't running there were no downhill skiers and in fact we saw no skiers. The route crosses two usually-groomed tracks so when it is being skied, be aware and try not to damage the tracks.
The lake is almost completely frozen and covered and there were tracks heading out across and up the far side toward Surveyor's Lake. It felt a lot colder at the lake than in the trees so we didn't linger long.
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