NF road 9737 had a solid 4" of snow on it with lots of big potholes.  It was hard to differentiate puddles from potholes but the road is passible.

Arrived at the TH at 9:30, there were still a number of parking spaces.

Broke trail, if you could call it that, through 3" of fresh wet snow (4" at higher elevation, 5700").  The trail was still recognizable with a few exception.

We missed the last last turn (not recognizable) up the switchbacks to the Lake Ann overlook.  Backtracked and found what is supposed to be the trail to overlook  but no trail was evident.  Decided to turn around and call it a day after 2 1/2 hours of hiking.

Came across three other parties on the way down.  Trail is now packed snow.  Assume with low temps tonight the trail will be frozen packed snow and icy tomorrow.

Summary:

Thanks to the old couple ahead of me for breaking the trail to Lake Ann overlook and for the tip to go left may be 100m from the overlook for better views(as views from the pass going down to lake ann are limited). The views from there were amazing and you could see the major portion of Cascade Crest all of which had fresh snow.

No trail running today and rather used a full winter pack considering the recent trip reports. Lake Ann is completely frozen. Larches are past their prime but there are still few holding their needles. 2-3 inches of Snow on more than half the trail which slows your overall speed. Very deep snow 3-4 feet(yes feet) on the trail going down to Lake Ann. Hiking poles were lifesaver on that black ice in the first mile after fork from Ingalls way trail. Saw only 3 groups and total 5 people during whole stretch. Breaking trail on the descent towards Lake Ann from overlook is very sketchy and hard. Be ready for winter conditions. 

Road to Trailhead:

Drive through the Teanaway forest is absolutely beautiful right now with so many falls colors on the road. Road has much more potholes than a month back when I visited Ingalls. However there are no washouts and it is still in good shape considering how much traffic it gets. There were lot of hunters parked on the road to trailhead. The parking lot was full (obviously) at 12:45pm on Thursday and had to park at half a mile from trailhead. There were around 70+ cars at trailhead considering that I think everyone would have headed to Ingalls probably as I saw only 5 people whole day. 

TH to Ingalls Way fork:

Started around 1pm and car thermometer showed temperature to be 34F. This section is completely snow free probably due to southwest facing slope and thousands of people treading on this stretch. The stream just before the fork is not running strong. Surprisingly didn't see anyone even on this section of the trail.

Ingalls Way Fork to Esmeralda Basin

First mile of so is relatively flat and had lot of stream crossing. There is water on trail which has frozen into clear thin layer of ice. Very slippery due to ice and water so waterproof boots and hiking poles were very helpful. Trail gains elevation and water/ice was replaced by compact snow. There were still multiple stream crossing but nothing major. Snow is 2-3 inches deep and there were many boot paths on the trail which indicated multiple people had used this section recently. There were sections where you can feel that there is ice below the compact snow. Met a couple who were coming down. There were big paw marks on trail till here which looked huge for a dog, I later met the person with a huge dog(almost like a medium sized bear) which explained the footprints. 

Esmeralda Basin to Lake Ann overlook:

The basin is beautiful and had 6-12 inches of snow in the meadows but the trail had compact snow. Before the final switchbacks to the overlook the footsteps reduced and now there were only 2 pairs of boots and none in returning direction. The trail in this section would have been very confusing and hard to find without those footprints with all the thick snow in the meadows. Once on switchbacks the snow thinned and there was stream on some section of the trail as well. Finally I met the old couple who were up on the overlook may be 200 feet below the overlook. They suggested going left from pass for great views. They were glad someone could use the trail broken by them as it was forecasted to snow 16 inches in that region on friday and most of this would be again under snow. There are no larches till Lake Ann overlook. Reached overlook at 2:45pm.

Lake Ann Overlook to Lake Ann

There is a single Larch tree on the saddle right on the path down to the lake which had sun shining on it. there were more Larch trees below this point on the hillside but most of them had lost their needles or whatever needles were left were brownish rather than golden. After taking few pics from the saddle/pass I started looking for the trail to Lake Ann. There were no signs of any booth path or trail. I started heading down from what I could estimate from gps and google satellite images. Snow here was powdery and very soft and very deep. It quickly went from a foot deep to 2-3 feet deep. Just before the larch tree at the switchback I realized this is going to be much harder going up. Also I was just past my turnaround time of 3pm. Snow at this point was almost waist deep plus this incline on the hill was steep so this was definitely above by comfort level. There was no one else nearby, shade of the hill was moving faster towards lake, larches looked faded at the lake so I threw in the towel and turned around and I am glad I did so. It was a mistake to not put on all the layers I had. My hands were almost freezing when I took them out of the gloves to take a photo from mobile at my turnaround point. Reached back saddle at 3pm and was relieved as the sun was shining strong. It must be 20 degrees colder in that shaded descent down to the frozen Lake Ann. From the saddle I went West as recommended by couple. Had my snacks on a big rock and soaked in the views for next 15-20 minutes. There was almost no wind but it was still very cold at that rocky outcropping. I saw a recent pair of hoof prints from from the steep cliff off the rocky outcropping and going towards the saddle on snow. They looked like goat hooves rather than deer but I didn't see any animal on the saddle itself.

From Lake Ann Overlook to TH:

Headed down from pass at 3:30pm. Snow was still crunchy at most of the places so no slush. The streams were running stronger than noon though. Met the person with big dog and passed on the suggestion about going left from saddle/overlook. Multiple sections were still icy so just walked with fast pace rather than running down. I had traction Yaktrax but never needed to put them on as the icy sections were small and manageable with poles. It must have been in late 20s at the overlook when standing in the wind and much warmer(50s) where I sat in the nook in that rocky outcropping with full sun shining. I would say the shaded portion of the Lake Ann descent must have been early teens or even lower as I went there just before leaving the saddle and I could just feel the huge difference on south and north of the saddle. Reached TH at 5:20pm. Car showed temperature of 35F.

Saw two hunters with binoculars who had spotted a big bear on the hillside. They offered me to view the bear through their big binocular set on the ground. It was a really big fat brown colored bear. I havent seen anything like that in WA state yet. Looked almost like a grizzly bear. This is the second time this year I have encountered bear hunting/hunted. Suddenly the feeling of an awesome day in mountains was replaced by an eerie feeling. 

Stats : 8.5 miles and 2500ft gain/loss plus a mile from car to TH. 2 hour up (turnaround point), 2 hours down and may be 20 minutes at the saddle. 

Got to the trailhead around 10 am, parking lot was full so we just parked along the road on the left, plenty of spots. This is also the trailhead for Lake Engalls, which I think majority of the cars were because we only encountered 2 women and their dog on the trail this morning. 

My friend and I decided to hike Esmeralda Basin up to Lake Ann hoping to see some Larches this year. First off the road into the trail head is rough with a lot of wash board and pot holes along it. We arrived at the trailhead at 9am finding spots still available in the parking lot. The hike started out real nice not spotting any real wild life except for the 4 bovine hiding in the trees blending in nicely. As we got further along we started to hit lots of mud, slush and water flowing down the trail making for wet feet. Coming out of the wooded area we started coming into a lot more snow. The scenery was beautiful along the way as the clouds would cover and reveal the mountains around. As we got higher heading towards the ridge the icy wind and the snow was getting deeper and real cold. Unfortunately I was getting to cold and slipping in the snow so we didn’t quite make it to the ridge that overlooks Lake Anne. But all around that area is absolutely beautiful.

This is an awesome alternative to crowded Lake Ingalls! Beautiful larches at the lake. The road to the TH is definitely fine for any vehicle. The description of this hike states it is sometimes hard to follow, but I did not once find that to be the case. It’s an easy trail until you get to the turn off to the Lake Ann trail from the Esmerelda Basin trail. Then steep with lots of rocks. We actually saw 3 cows once we got a little bit into the Lake Ann turn off!!! So strange, I hope they are okay!