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Home Go Hiking Trip Reports Franklin Falls, Snow Lake - Winter, Granite Mountain - Winter, Annette Lake, Gold Creek Pond Snowshoe, Kendall Peak Lakes Snowshoe, Big Four Ice Caves Snowshoe, Lake 22 - Winter, Lake Serene, Heybrook Lookout, Skyline Lake Snowshoe, Lanham Lake Snowshoe, Hex Mountain Snowshoe, Amabilis Mountain Snowshoe, Franklin Falls - Winter

Trip Report By

500

Type of Hike

Snowshoe/XC Ski

Trail Conditions

Trail difficult/impossible to navigate:
    .

Road

Road impassable/closed

Bugs

No bugs

Snow

Avalanche danger

Trails Hiked

This report is out of date.
Avalanche risk still exists in these areas, but has shifted due to a change in weather (temperature) and precipitation.
Please check NWAC for more details.

WSDOT has closed Snoqualmie Pass, Stevens Pass, and White Pass until Saturday due to heavy snowfall (4’+ forecast) and avalanche risk.

Be very careful heading out into the snow this weekend. Snow immersion (tree wells, falling into powder) is a real risk right now and probably will continue to be a serious risk into early next week when natural avalanches occur and/or rainfall consolidates the snow.

All of the linked trails have avalanche terrain, minus Gold Creek Pond. Some of these are “safe bets” in normal conditions, but this snowfall is far from normal—it’s like the huge dump we had in 02/2020 and the huge dumps we had in 01/2021-02/2021.

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Comments

ngie on Franklin Falls, Snow Lake - Winter, Granite Mountain - Winter, Annette Lake, Gold Creek Pond Snowshoe, Kendall Peak Lakes Snowshoe, Big Four Ice Caves Snowshoe, Lake 22 - Winter, Lake Serene, Heybrook Lookout, Skyline Lake Snowshoe, Lanham Lake Snowshoe, Hex Mountain Snowshoe, Amabilis Mountain Snowshoe, Franklin Falls - Winter

Well... let's see how many avalanche fatalities happen and SAR calls are placed Sunday... I hate putting it this way, but people are going to go out regardless, but this is one of those cases where I don't head out into the mountains, period.

I only really avoid mountains when there's severe avalanche danger or there's thunder and lightning in the forecast.

Posted by:


ngie on Jan 06, 2022 10:52 PM

hikingwithlittledogs on Franklin Falls, Snow Lake - Winter, Granite Mountain - Winter, Annette Lake, Gold Creek Pond Snowshoe, Kendall Peak Lakes Snowshoe, Big Four Ice Caves Snowshoe, Lake 22 - Winter, Lake Serene, Heybrook Lookout, Skyline Lake Snowshoe, Lanham Lake Snowshoe, Hex Mountain Snowshoe, Amabilis Mountain Snowshoe, Franklin Falls - Winter

I’ve always felt safe hiking to big four in the snow. Do you know if the avalanche risk is just up by the ice caves, or is there exposure along the MLH that I have to pay attention to? With the bridge still out, you’d have to walk through the freezing river to get close to the ice caves (not my idea of a good time). Thanks!

Posted by:


hikingwithlittledogs on Jan 06, 2022 02:13 PM

ngie on Franklin Falls, Snow Lake - Winter, Granite Mountain - Winter, Annette Lake, Gold Creek Pond Snowshoe, Kendall Peak Lakes Snowshoe, Big Four Ice Caves Snowshoe, Lake 22 - Winter, Lake Serene, Heybrook Lookout, Skyline Lake Snowshoe, Lanham Lake Snowshoe, Hex Mountain Snowshoe, Amabilis Mountain Snowshoe, Franklin Falls - Winter

There were avalanche danger signs right after the river: the runout path goes all the way from the top of the north face of big four down into the trail on that side of the river.

Snowshoeing down the road from Deer Creek to the park and up to the river should be ok, but I'm not sure what the current water levels are for the Stillaguamish River (I called it the Stilly growing up). I would watch out for tree wells, trees dropping snow, and for trees potentially blocking the road after Verlot (which reminds me -- time to put the saws back in my car).

Posted by:


ngie on Jan 06, 2022 02:19 PM

cascadesdj on Franklin Falls, Snow Lake - Winter, Granite Mountain - Winter, Annette Lake, Gold Creek Pond Snowshoe, Kendall Peak Lakes Snowshoe, Big Four Ice Caves Snowshoe, Lake 22 - Winter, Lake Serene, Heybrook Lookout, Skyline Lake Snowshoe, Lanham Lake Snowshoe, Hex Mountain Snowshoe, Amabilis Mountain Snowshoe, Franklin Falls - Winter

Upper Kittitas Co is hammered. Here in Roslyn, we got about 3 feet in 24 hours on top of weeks of cold and snow. I spent all day on the tractor and on shed roof shoveling 4+ feet off of it, something people all over town do whenever these event happen. This is the most we've had on a spell since the epic late December-early January 1996-7. I was on the shed shovelling when I could tell by the sound hitting my hat that it was changing to frozen rain. That's when the power went out in town, for about an hour. The neighborhoods all rally and we help each other and those who can't shovel and move snow all day. Oh, and for some reason, I didn't get out for a hike or snowshoe today.

Posted by:


cascadesdj on Jan 06, 2022 09:15 PM

kidz won't hike on Franklin Falls, Snow Lake - Winter, Granite Mountain - Winter, Annette Lake, Gold Creek Pond Snowshoe, Kendall Peak Lakes Snowshoe, Big Four Ice Caves Snowshoe, Lake 22 - Winter, Lake Serene, Heybrook Lookout, Skyline Lake Snowshoe, Lanham Lake Snowshoe, Hex Mountain Snowshoe, Amabilis Mountain Snowshoe, Franklin Falls - Winter

Wow, that’s tons of snow! I have been checking reports all day, as with the pass being closed I cannot get over there to get the snow off my shed. Last report I saw for Easton was 27” in 24 hrs, and 65” total depth on ground. It’s insane. It’s nice that people are helping each other out. Hopefully there isn’t much freezing rain over there

Posted by:


kidz won't hike on Jan 06, 2022 10:14 PM

snowmonkey on Franklin Falls, Snow Lake - Winter, Granite Mountain - Winter, Annette Lake, Gold Creek Pond Snowshoe, Kendall Peak Lakes Snowshoe, Big Four Ice Caves Snowshoe, Lake 22 - Winter, Lake Serene, Heybrook Lookout, Skyline Lake Snowshoe, Lanham Lake Snowshoe, Hex Mountain Snowshoe, Amabilis Mountain Snowshoe, Franklin Falls - Winter

If you believe the Scientists that tell you to get vaccinated and wear a mask etc to stay safe from a virus then you should believe the Scientists that tell you the mountains should be avoided right now to stay safe from harm. Meteorologists use science and math to understand and predict weather and climate. For Pete’s sake; just do something else in the lowlands for the time being. It’s really a no-brainer.

Posted by:


snowmonkey on Jan 08, 2022 07:14 AM

sallym on Franklin Falls, Snow Lake - Winter, Granite Mountain - Winter, Annette Lake, Gold Creek Pond Snowshoe, Kendall Peak Lakes Snowshoe, Big Four Ice Caves Snowshoe, Lake 22 - Winter, Lake Serene, Heybrook Lookout, Skyline Lake Snowshoe, Lanham Lake Snowshoe, Hex Mountain Snowshoe, Amabilis Mountain Snowshoe, Franklin Falls - Winter

hi ngie! Thanks for posting this. I don't know if you'll remember, but my partner and I actually met you as we were going down/you were going up the CC on Mt Stuart. I was looking into snowshoeing Skyline Lake, but it would be our first time snowshoeing in WA and I am trying to understand the avalanche risk. Do you have a good resource for checking the status. I think I was kinda surprised because wta said that Skyline is low avalanche risk. Do you have any other recommendations for easy/safe snowshoeing?

Posted by:


sallym on Jan 15, 2022 01:21 PM

ngie on Franklin Falls, Snow Lake - Winter, Granite Mountain - Winter, Annette Lake, Gold Creek Pond Snowshoe, Kendall Peak Lakes Snowshoe, Big Four Ice Caves Snowshoe, Lake 22 - Winter, Lake Serene, Heybrook Lookout, Skyline Lake Snowshoe, Lanham Lake Snowshoe, Hex Mountain Snowshoe, Amabilis Mountain Snowshoe, Franklin Falls - Winter

Oh wow! Hi there sallym! Small world :).

When I posted this last week the conditions were a lot different; there was a lot of uncertainty and high potential for burial, including below treeline. The folks at NWAC updated the avalanche risk and the concerns seem very mild based on the bulletin. Of course there's always nuance in the bulletin, but the pass ones are generally spot on for the immediate area.

Skyline Lake is relatively safe compared to other snowshoes in the area. Most of the concerns I'd have deal with below/near treeline conditions. The boulder field/overlook above the lake requires some care with the exposed slopes, but the lake itself is pretty benign.

Happy snowshoeing :)!

Posted by:


ngie on Jan 15, 2022 09:32 PM

ngie on Franklin Falls, Snow Lake - Winter, Granite Mountain - Winter, Annette Lake, Gold Creek Pond Snowshoe, Kendall Peak Lakes Snowshoe, Big Four Ice Caves Snowshoe, Lake 22 - Winter, Lake Serene, Heybrook Lookout, Skyline Lake Snowshoe, Lanham Lake Snowshoe, Hex Mountain Snowshoe, Amabilis Mountain Snowshoe, Franklin Falls - Winter

This report is out of date: a lot of the concerns I had were due to a major storm system/avalanche cycle that triggered large avalanches across the Cascades.
Avalanche risk still exists, but the conditions and risk have changed.

Posted by:


ngie on Jan 20, 2022 09:45 AM