Glad I got to the trailhead early, since the crowd was huge by the time I returned. It was such a beautiful day, and I am glad I went before the rain came in again the following day. The trail was in good shape and did not see any snow on it until about a third of the way beyond the old road section. Even though the snow did become deeper, snowshoes were not required to get to the lake. Once there, at 12:00hrs, I strapped on the snowshoes and took a hike farther toward the back of the lake and up the slopes. There I placed the ridgerest on a nice curvature on the slope and took a nice lunch break. Listened to the sound of some minor slides off the mountain, as well as a lonely crow. The lake ice seems thin and good for an unexpected polar-bear swim. I headed down at 13:00 hrs and used the snowshoes travelling on and off the main trail. Almost fell in a stream, and I took a good fall when running downhill, but it was all fun. The snowshoes helped a lot on the descent in the slippery snowcovered trail. Once back at the trailhead, it was like rush-hour traffic. This is obviously a very popular hike all year long and the best way to enjoy the solitude is by leaving early and wandering off the lakeshore end of the trail.

Tried to go up to Pilchuck but 2 miles from the trailhead there was a Blazer blocking the road and had been abandoned! So we had to back down for 2 miles to be able to turn around and go to the Heather Lake trailhead (Elev 1500'). Trail was muddy and slushy in spots, but encountered good snowpack at the halfway point and had a great trip the rest of the way. Once at the Lake we started to posthole and put on the snowshoes and began the traverse around the lake. Lots of avalanche debris has come down, so don't think about camping near the lake. It is really tricky getting around the lake as we thought we were still on shore when Joseph poked through some ice and fell in up to his knees. He got out okay but needless to say he had cold feet for the remiander of the day! Tricky navigation at the far side of the lake as there are many snowbridges and such. Once we got around the lake we hopped over a stream that had a good amount of snowpack on each side and after I jumped the snowshoe bent backwards so when I landed I was dumped backwards into the freezing stream. As I yelled for Joseph to help me, he had a hard time not laughing. I am sure it was real hoot! Trail is in good shape though, learn from our mistakes. AND NEVER venture out on the ice as I have seen people do in the past, that is just plain stupid. scott@nwog.org

It is touch and go getting to Heather Lake trailhead with deep snow on sideroad from Mt. Loop Hwy. Big tired vehicles have left the potential for high centering passenger cars with standard size tires. It was a toboggan ride which nearly put us in a ditch even though we were driving a Subaru Legacy with all wheel drive. The first half of the road is is pretty fair shape with not much snow which just sucks you into proceeding further up the road where there are no chances to turn around until the Heather trailhead. Be careful!

Decided on Heather Lake for a snow hike, as I had not been up there this year, and wanted something not to hard after cross country skiing the day before. When I got to the parking lot one mile off the Mtn. Loop Highway there were several vehicles already parked. Once heading up the trail I caught up to a grandfather and three of his young grand kids out for a day in the forest. There were several stream crossing on the way and places where water was running down the middle of the trail. After getting up the the line between the second growth and old growth forest snow was on the ground. The snow was packed down on the trail to the lake, which is now froze over. After eatting my lunch, gramps and the 3 kids finally got to the lake. By now the kids cotton jeans where about half wet. They didn't have any gloves or hats either. I put on my snowshoes for the loop around Heather Lake and you needed them. Most of the time I could stay on the surface of the three feet of snow, but once in a while I'd punch through. Someone had tried going part way along the lake, but they had only post holed. Only a few people had packed snowshoes up with them the explore the cirque on Mt. Pilchuck. Even saw a few bugs flying around or crawling on the snow. By the time I headed back down from the lake, gramps and the kids had already left. They most have gotten down okay this time, as they were gone when I got to the parking lot. Hopefully some day parents will know not to send there kids out into the snowy mountains wearing cotton clothes. I had first went up to Heather Lake way back in 1953 when my dad packed me up there on his back. See a photo in the Dec.'01 Backpacker magazine. He rigged a Trapper Nelson home made pack (built 1939) with a kids chair to take me on hikes and I have been going ever since those earlier years.

Beautiful day at Heather Lake. Trail is generally in good condition, a little muddy in some spots. No snow anywhere near the trail, if you climb up to the waterfalls above the lake there's a tiny bit left. Water is cold but swimmable. There's a maintence crew redoing a lot of boardwalk around the lake, supposedly there 'til the 11th. One more thing: The road appears to have been recently visited by a grader, it's washboarded as always but no potholes at the moment to the trailhead, and the gate there was taken out.