Surprise Lake Snowshoe — Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - West

Initially, I was going to hike Eagle Lake Fishermans Trail today, but the road was closed due to logging. Didn't find out till I was almost to the trailhead, so I got a late start on this hike... The parking area is a little tricky to find, its the first road to the South once you pass the Iron Goat Interpretive Center, but there was plenty of parking in a slightly icy parking lot...4 wheel drive was nice, but not needed. There was light snow falling, and about 4-6" of fresh snow on the trail. I started up around noon and was the first to break trail, in fact I didn't see any other people on the trail. Perfect! Snow conditions were good, pretty easy going with snowshoes on the trail, if you strayed off it was a little deep and soft but still manageable with a little more effort. Theres a few creek crossings that are a challenge due to steep approaches. The trail was easy to follow, always a good idea to bring a map and compass but I didn't really need it for wayfinding. I didn't get all the way to the lakes due to my late start, ate lunch around 2 miles in and came back out. The Ranger at the Skykomish Ranger Station had mentioned that the avalanche danger was Considerable past that point today so probably a good turn around anyway.... Overall, this is a great out of the way, lightly used trail for snowshoeing. Only drawback is most of it is heavily wooded, so not a lot of views.