I have never done this hike as a snow shoe and it was a workout with all the fresh snow. We left the trail hear around 8:50 and they had just plowed the area for parking. We initially drove across the tracks but I opted to park on the Highway 2 side as then snow was pretty deep. Right as we were ready to leave a train pulled up and stopped so we had to walk around the front very carefully. We started from the truck with snow shoes as the conditions warranted. There are a few stream crossing that are easy to walk through initially. There are two water crossings that require snow shoes on a log but go slowly and carefully and you will be fine.
After the second water crossings you cross some talus fields. Be careful about the spaces between the rocks as some of the snow isnt solid. There are a few "valleys" that are pretty much dry stream crossing that you have to hop over. I did fall through and dropped five feet but just pulled myself back up. There are voids and you can get injured in these areas.
We lost the trail a few times but just used the GPS and headed up hill in the correct direction. If you hike in the next few days you might benefit from our breaking trail. I heard snow is on the way but we left some deep valleys. Poles are a personal choice. They were a little bit of a pain walking through some of the narrow areas where you had to hold them above your head.
We arrived at the lake at about 12:50,so four hours but that was breaking trail and navigating. We had a turn around time of 1pm so if would have been nice to make it a little further.
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