I had planned a snowshoe hike from Annette Lake trail to Mt Catherine then loop back via PCT a month ago, finally I completed it today.
The road to Annette Lake was kind of iffy open, there were recent tire marks over the shrinking snow berm but I did not see any cars on the road or in the parking lot. The road was not plowed yet, but SUV with high clearance or traction devices might make it. I just parked on the north side of I-90 and walked across the overpass which added 1.5 miles to the round trip.
Trail & snow conditions: first 2 miles on Annette Lake trail were well packed down, perfect for microspikes, snowshoes unnecessary. After that, leaving trail, climbing the ridge, it’s snowshoes all the way.
Other gears, better-haves: gaiters, both water-proof gloves and pants, ice axe, GPS, and compass which I found really a complement to GPS when I need to join the main trail or gaining the ridge ASAP.
The epic snowfall, combined with record-breaking cold February has made this area a winter wonderland. The Olallie Meadows became a giant Nordic track field and I saw about 2 dozen of XC skiers, but not a single hiker.
Along the way I opened two tracks: Mt Catherine summer trail to the ridge, and PCT north leaving Olallie Meadows, they were all under heavy snowpack, especially the latter.
My timeline: I started at 7:50AM from north side of I-90, summit at 12:05PM. I stayed up there for no more than 10 minutes because it was windy and freezing, temperature most likely in 10s. I got back at my car at 3:50 PM, surprisingly found one unused bottle of water I carried whole way had turned into bottle of ice rod.
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