Heather Lake — Monday, Dec. 29, 2025

This was a nice, short hike to an iced-over lake. Possibly the highest reward/effort ratio for being able to access a frozen lake with a spectacular mountain backdrop.

I started at noon because I was worried about early ice on the road for my front-wheel-drive Corolla. The road was great apart from a few minor potholes. There is some major erosion visible on the banks of the Stillaguamish River (south fork), which you cross immediately before the Mt Pilchuck access road. The next few days should be nice for this area but rain forecast for Thursday will spoil the fun.   

The trail to the lake’s outlet stream is only 2 miles. The first few thousand feet are neat and well-graveled but as the gradient increases, it gets increasingly rooty and wet. There was a big difference in water depth on the trail between 1pm and 3pm. No wet feet at the earlier time but afternoon snowmelt meant that the stream crossings were deeper. The other thing that got worse through the day was the shower of melting snow from the trees, with an occasional smack of a chunk of ice on the head.

I put spikes (Kahtoola K10) on at about 2300 ft, just before entering the lake basin. I had noticeably more traction than other people, especially going down. The trail around the lake is all snow. The boardwalk is picturesque but when there is more snow, it will be hard to see where it is and potentially drop into deep snow with underlying water. Postholing is not a danger early in the day but as the temperature rises above freezing in the afternoon, it’s easy to sink in the softening snow. Some of the snow routes up the gradient toward Pilchuck look tempting but intermittent rumbling sounds meant that melting ice was causing mini-avalanches.

A number of people were getting to the lake and leaving without going around. This seems to me like going to Disneyland, walking through the front gate and leaving without sampling the attractions. As you move around the lake, you get ever-changing scenery including an up-close-and-personal meeting with Pilchuck’s precipitous north face.

With increasing temperatures in the next few days and possibly full sun on Wednesday, the lake ice will get more precarious. At the moment, the ice is unsafe at the edges, near the outlet stream and on the south side of the lake where runoff from Mt Pilchuck enters. You might want to be careful with exuberant dogs.