Heather Lake — Saturday, Apr. 13, 2002

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

The road to the trailhead is snow-free, but a little rough in spots for cars. There were no other cars at the trailhead so parking was not a problem. There was a little hail/snow as I left the trailhead, but it faded out on the way up. The first mile of the trail is snow-free. There was more water than usual on the trail and the stream crossings were running higher than normal. There were plenty of rocks for steps, but poles did come in handy on one crossing. The last 3/4 mile to the lake was solid snow. Route finding was not too bad, but traction tires were recommended. The biggest hazards seemed to be collapsing snow bridges and deep holes with water running under them. If you fell into one of these 15 ft deep holes, it was going to be difficult to get out. The lake had some open water and there was a large slide at the far end of the lake which appeared to be quite recent. A nice hike which should get better in the next month as the snow melts out a little more. I only saw one other person on the trail all day.