Went to Heather Lake for an avalanche-safe snowshoe hike. The Pilchuck Road (#42) is open to the trailhead, but chains are necessary beyond the first .5 mile or so; cars were parked intermittently along the road according to their snow-traction. We walked about 20 minutes on the road up to the trailhead. The trail (2 miles each way) is in great shape, and although the early morning hikers needed snowshoes to break trail, the rest of us could more easily walk up just in boots as the snow was well packed. We saw probably 15 people total, so enough to be assured that folks are utilizing the trails, but not so many as to ruin our peaceful afternoon in the woods. The lake was pretty and we had sunbreaks that allowed for views of nearby peaks. Easy, pleasant hike!

First I'd like to thank whomever has worked on this trail recently! The re-worked tread is looking great on the lower section, many signs of cleared drainages, and the flagging on the upper half indicates a lot more work to come next season on this heavily used trail. It was a beautiful fall day with no rain and light clouds. We pretty much had the trail to ourselves hiking in with only a couple cars in the parking area on our arrival. The lake was very beautiful surrounded by light snow and all the branches of the trees where outlined with frost. This is a popular trail and we passed many folks on our descent on their way up to the lake and there were a dozen cars at the bottom by mid-afternoon. The trail was snow free for about the first 1.5 miles and about 3-4"" of snow at the lake. The course is free of blow-downs except for a jumbled mass of stumps on the trail that leads around the lake (to the right at the forks as you arrive a the lake). It can be carefully climbed over if you'd like to circumnavigate the lake. Mud-holes were infrequent and minor except for one large one near the approach to the lake which has a 10' detour trail bushwhacked around it. One creek crossing in the lower half of the trail had a small slide taking a chunk of the trail with it but a narrow detour is available on the downhill side of the slide. The biggest obstacle of the day was ice--take care as this is a wet trail and very icy at this time of the year as the temperatures dip below freezing at night.

Hi to all fellow hiking enthusiasts.It's been a long time since I've written a report and actually a long time since I've been doing any hiking due to a chronic neurological condition that manifested itself last October.It affects my hearing,balance & equilibrium. Anyway,I've been testing my limitations with an easy hike with my wife(she had hip surgery 1 1/2 years ago)to Boulder River about 1 1/2 mths ago.NO SWEAT! Then I put my fears on the backburner and hiked solo to Heather Lake#701 and had no problems.Beautiful day with a small snow cave underneath the pinnacle with the flat rock on top near Pilchuck. Yesterday,Deb & I went back to Heather Lake and had the lake to ourselves for about 45 min.Again,beautiful day and a nice warm up hike that proved a little tough for my soulmates hip. Now for the good news.Since the weather has been so great,I decided to go solo up Pilchuck today.Left the trailhead at 7:15 and hit the lookout at 8:45.Had the whole mountain top to myself till 10:30 and the views did not disappoint.All prominent mts except St. Helens were in view.Very few bugs.A great day to be alive and know I can still do it.All toll from the time people started showing till I got back to the car(50 min down)I passed 47 people. If there is anyone out there that has some physical limitations or anyone just looking for a hiking partner for weekday hikes,please find a way to leave a report with a way of contacting back.I live in the Marysville area. So long for now.

This is our second hike in two days and although this is a very easy hike, it was still a little tougher then normal. Compared to Dorothy Lake in near Skykomish, this hike was kinda a let down. The trail was in part an old road bed at times and very rooty and wet. There were a couple small creek crossing...(not a problem), and a ton of people on the trail. We probably saw 100 people in all. The lake was nice and we did see a couple fish jump, but i would rather hit a better lake if i was going to go through all the trouble of getting my pole up there. All in all, a good day, but i probably won't do this one again. I recommend perhaps Lake Serene or Lake Dorothy on Highway 2 as a better hike. Also, some bugs at the lake.

We decided to hike to both Lake 22 and Heather Lake to compare the two trails. The trails are easy enough to do comfortably in a day. Both trails are in good shape free of snow and fallen trees. There was no snow around either lake though Mt Pilchuck had plenty of snow on it’s upper slopes to fuel numerous roaring waterfalls at both lakes. The Lake 22 trail is beautiful forest all the way. There is a new bridge (as of last year) across the outlet of the lake. The trail around the lake is in excellent shape and is a beautiful walk taking you closer to the cliffs and waterfalls coming off Mt Pilchuck. The Heather Lake trail has some poor sections on it. This includes an area that seems like a dead forest. All the lower limbs of the trees have died and the forest floor is covered with the dead limbs. There is no undergrowth at all. Fortunately the area was short and the upper part of the trail had some nice old growth timber that the early loggers must have missed. The beauty of Heather Lake comes when you walk around the lake which is every bit as beautiful and a lot closer to the roaring waterfalls than the walk around Lake 22. The two lakes and beautiful weather made a great day of hiking.