Our family of two adults and two teenagers took a one-night nordic backcountry ski trip to Cooper Lake via the Cooper River Trail (north side of river), returning on the Cooper River Road (south side of river). Starting from the Salmon la Sac Sno-Park, we found that the cross-country route to Salmon la Sac Campground was not yet groomed, but snow conditions were good on the trail and roads to the Cooper Lake summer trailhead. At the start of the trail there was an 18 inch base of snow with about 4 inches of fresh powder. The trail begins with a fairly steep climb along Cooper River for the first mile. The river is soon in a deep gorge below the trail, which follows the upper edge of precipitous cliffs in some places. After the first half-mile or so, the trail becomes less steep, but continues side-hilling along the slope on the north side of the river valley, undulating up and down, before finally dropping to the flat valley floor shortly before Cooper Lake. The trail was easy to follow, thanks to a trace of snowshoe tracks covered with just a few inches of powder. Route-finding would have made it a much slower and more difficult trip. As it was, the narrow trail was challenging, and required good backcountry ski skills, but perfect snow conditions and a clear route made for a very fun day.
At Owhi Campground on the shore of Cooper Lake we rejoined a snowmobile road, but not too many machines came out on the road branch to the lake, so we had a very peaceful night. In the morning we tried route-finding from Cooper Lake to the Pete Lake trailhead. Without snowshoe tracks to follow, it was hard to stay on the actual trail, and we spent a lot of time tangling with brush and climbing over fallen logs, but we did spot a rabbit in a white winter coat. We rejoined a good snowshoe track at the Pete Lake trailhead, which again helped keep us on trail and made for much easier skiing. We didn't get too far, though, before it was time to turn around and pack up camp.
The adults in the group decided that, while the trip in along the Cooper River Trail was fun, the descent (with heavy overnight packs) would be too stressful on the narrow, winding trail with cliffs. So to the teenagers' dismay, we decided our return trip would be on the Cooper Lake and Cooper River Roads, shared with snowmobiles. The route had intermittent groups of snowmobiles, with their lingering scent of eau de gasoline, but was an easy ski back out to the Cle Elum Road, about 0.5 mi below the Salmon la Sac Sno-Park.
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