Taking advantage of the recent low-level snow, we headed to Heather Lake for a bit of snowshoeing. The road was snowy about 1/2 mile before the trailhead and gate, so we parked at that point. Before we made it to the trailhead, we helped two cars that had gotten stuck in the snow. Amidst the crowd helping the second car was a friendly WTA face. Small world. The lower mile or so of the trail alternated between snow and trailbed (though it was mostly snow), so we carried our snowshoes. Eventually, we put on the snowshoes, but they were helpful more for traction than for support. We lunched at the lake with the sounds of rockslides every few minutes. Pretty amazing. I had never been on the Heather Lake trail before and was surprised by the monstrous stumps be passed. Quite a few nice big trees toward the top, too.

Not much change from the last report (27JAN). Recommend poles as the last miles is hard snow. Crampons also advisable for some. Many today went up with tennis shoes and tee-shirts with temps in the 30's. It may seem like Spring in Seattle, but not in the mountains.

Snow begins 1/2 way up the trail, at which point it's very packed down and slick. lots of blow-downs makes snow shoes difficult. Better to bring treads for your boots than snow shoes.

Carl & I headed up the Heather Lake for a little snowshoeing. The lower section of the trail in the second growth forest is mosting snow free with a few blown down tree to get over or around. After getting into the old growth trees, there is more snow and much bigger trees laying over the trail. The snow was pretty consolidated with all the hikers going to the lake. We put our snowshoes on for the loop around the lake and they came in handy for crossing the outlet creek. With the snow piled on the foot bridge like an up side down ""V"" we used a snow covered log. We wondered around the lake off the summer trail, as all the brush in now covered in snow. We found a good spot for lunch on the east side of the lake and saw a few other snowshoers go by. One woman was out in shorts with no long underwear to keep her legs warm. The sun does not shine on the lake this time of year as Mt. Pilchuck blocks it out. Met lots of people heading up as we were going back down. Nice to get out after all of the stormy weather.

Happy Hiker and I went for this post-Christmas Day hike with the hopes of getting in some snowshoeing. Since the snow level looked pretty low, we decided to try Heather Lake. The first thing we noticed was the gate across the road up to Mt. Pilchuck; the gate is just past the Heather Lake parking lot. The second thing we noticed.... no snow! We were sure we'd run into some once we got up a bit higher so we strapped the shoes on our backs and headed up the trail. There is a large blow down at the beginning of the trailhead. It's pretty easy to navigate around. This is the worst of the damage to the trail. There are a couple of other small trees blown down further up the trail but they are also easy to get around. There is also a lot of water on the trail as many of the small streams have changed course or been diverted by downed trees. Goretex foot wear is a must! We found the snow near the wooden boardwalk (about 1/2 way up). However, the trail has been used a lot and is either snow-free or compressed so we didn't need the snowshoes for the trail. We made it up to the lake where there is lots of snow! We put on our snowshoes and took some short trips along the shore, had lunch and headed back down. All in all, we accomplished our goal and had a nice outing!