Woke up to find a ""hiking permit"" on the kitchen table. Not wishing to waste such a rare opportunity, I rushed through cleaning, the gutters, tossed my knapsack in the ""crummy"" and took off for Heather Lake. In a hour and a quarter, I had purchased a parking pass from the Verlot Ranger station and was on the trail. The trail was slightly rerouted since my last visit, many years ago -- with much improve asthetics. The old growth still started at about 1700 feet and the big old blowdown was basically rotted away. The first snow patches were found at 2300 feet. No serious snow was incountered until headed down to the lake. Round trip time was 2hr 10m. Not bad for a two year layoff! Encountered 5 people headed out and one person at the lake. Peaceful for a beautiful, sunny day.

The trail was very muddy near the higher elevation due to snow melting. The last 500-800 ft there was compact snow, Heather Lake was 70% frozen, the view was well worth the hike!

This trailhead is about 1 mi up the road to Mt Pilchuck. There were only 2 other cars in the parking lot and both of those parties were leaving as I ascended. The first mile of trail goes through a forest of dense small second growth trees with occasional stumps of massive cedars which were slaughtered back in the ""good ol days of loggin"". A beautiful old growth cedar forest is then entered which more than makes up for the first mile. An amazing looking hemlock growing on a perfect pedestal shaped burle 30 ft up a giant cedar can be seen to the right just after crossing a small bridge. As usual I was busy digging out all the water bars along the way. The trail is completely snow free until you get to the wetland flats 1/4 mi before the lake. The lake basin is covered in 3-4 ft of snow. Occasional avalanches can be heard crashing down into the valley from the cliffs above. The trail is in great shape thanks to lots of volunteer efforts for which I am grateful.

The trail leading to Heather Lake is almost totally exposed; snow was encountered in the last 1/2 mile or so. In spite of this the trail is well marked and the hike is fairly peaceful. The trail is a bit muddy in places, and many of the exposed rock surfaces are a bit slippery. All in all, a fairly nice hike for the month of April.

We saw just one other hiker on this wet trail. The trail was pretty snow free for about the first mile then pretty consistent snow to the lake where there was about 3 feet of snow. The lake was covered with slushy snow but I wouldn't call it frozen over. We ate in a gentle rain, but hiked in and out without getting too wet. The trail was covered with running water in many places.