Heather Lake — Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025

It was a gorgeous sunny Saturday for a hike. Arrived at the trailhead around 10:30, and the main lot was almost full, with a few open spots left. It was very chilly, though, and the whole trail, including the lake, was in the shade while we were there. We walked over, around, or under 11 fallen logs on our way up to the lake, along with a few water crossings and a slightly sketchy old puncheon. Some very rooty sections of the trail make for some big and awkward steps up and down but nothing too difficult. As others have said, the last half mile of the trail up to the lake is a sheet of ice. Everyone in my group used microspikes (large metal spikes that go on chains around the shoe), and we were all completely fine on the ice. Costco yaktraks or any other traction device like the coils or small spikes will not cut it. Some people made it up with other traction devices or nothing, but I would recommend only doing it with microspikes to avoid slipping. There is snow around the lake on the trail and it is very beautiful but beneath the snow is all ice. The temperature at the lake was definitely below freezing, the water in the tube of my bladder froze in 20 minutes, so I would also recommend bringing an extra layer for when you get to the lake. It took us about an hour and a half to get up and we took 30 minutes for lunch, and another hour to get down. My Garmin watch clocked 4.8 miles roundtrip which included some meandering around the edge of the lake. On the way down there were a lot of people hiking up and the parking lot was very full as we were leaving around 2. All around a very successful winter outing!