Denny Creek, Melakwa Lake — Wednesday, Apr. 23, 2025

Intermittent snow starts before Denny Creek slide, a bit after you pass under I90. But snow gets real at about 3000’, when you get a view of Keekewulle falls. No spikes needed, snow was soft, but postholing was not uncommon. Good boot path to follow until 3500’, but a few times we made a new path as the existing one strayed away from the GPS route. Once you get to about 3500’ you need to cross Denny Creek in a little log bridge that is blocked by snow on both sides (see picture). We managed but the dog had a hard time, had to drag her down to the creek and hop from stone to stone instead of using the bridge.

After that we tried following the summer route but once we got out of the tree line it got steep and the snow got deep. No more boot path we could find. We were sinking a lot and the dog was whining, so we turned around, about 1 mile from the lake. For the next brave adventurer, I would recommend following the creek after you cross it for as long as you can, the snow is much more manageable there.