Lake 22 — Friday, May. 8, 1998

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

The first mile or so of the trail is in great shape - no doubt because of the wonderful maintenance provided by an amazingly talented, and obviously attractive, maintenance crew sometime last year! As you get closer to the lake, the trail is a bit rougher, with mud and water on the trail, giving way to snow about 1/4 mile from the lake. The lake is mostly frozen over still, with a very thin snow shelf covering it. Very thin. Very cold water underneath. The waterfalls on the way to the lake are running at full force, and are quite spectacular - they might be more of a reason to do this trail than the lake itself! [Online editor's note: There was already one talanted though somewhat lessattractive group of volunteers there this year.]