Heather Lake — Sunday, Mar. 24, 2002

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

Unless you have a high clearance vehicle, don't even try to drive all the way to the trail head. The snow in the center of the roadway starts to get pretty deep about a half mile from the highway. I ended up parking on the side of the road near the gates. While you can drive up a bit farther, the snow depth increases rapidly and there aren't any good places to pull off. Someone in a sports car tried to drive up to the trail head and ended up getting stuck when one of the front tires fell into a deep puddle and the back of the car was lifted by the snow. Right now, it's much easier to hike the extra half mile. The trail itself isn't all that bad for the first mile and a half. There are lots of blow downs, but in most places, the snow is compact. A half mile from the lake, the hike becomes challenging, even with snowshoes. Take your time coming back down. In a couple of places, the footprints seem to go every which way and it's easy to go down the wrong path. One of the most confusing interchanges is about a mile up the trail. There's a trail sign that points to the lake, but it's not really clear where you should go to get down. Several people carved a path that continues to go straight down. You'll end up in a creek. The best way down is the route that will go to your right. Your back should face the trail sign.