We left the Alpental parking lot at 11:30am and returned by 5pm. You could hike faster, and we did break for a long lunch at the lake itself. Snow is a bit crunchy at the beginning, but about half-way in turned quite powdery. There were those who attempted this trail without snowshoes, but they left 2 foot post holes all along the route. About 2 miles in, you will face a decision: up to the right or down to the left. We were going for Snow Lake originally, so we went to the right. However, the normal break-off before Source Lake for Snow Lake did not exist (we would have had to forged through fresh snow). So, we decided to only go to Source Lake. The lake itself is completely covered. There were plenty of skiers having fun around the basin. I believe you can make a push for Snow Lake after reaching Source Lake to the right. Our muscles and the position of the sun deemed this a challenge for another day. We encountered robber barons who were looking for hand-outs as well as one spider on the snow. A wonderful day for a snowshoe on a classic trail.

Just a quick update on this one. Was out at Source touring for my AIARE I class field day. We came in from the Alpental back lot trail but the snowshoers took a different route and reported no issues and a distinct, stable hard-packed trail. Sunday has snow coming in with some broader avalanche potential. Was pretty cool; we dug a snow pit at the shoulder near Snow Lake, above Source Lake and found very reliable snowpack with the 2/14 wind slabs proving very stable and tolerant. Mind you things can and will change overnight, but snowshoers and ski tourers were in abundance on Saturday. Many visitors had dogs and children out in the mogul fields. Be wary of the current avalanche conditions, but it's looking good with the healing from the last storm cycle (see NWAC link below) Very beautiful area in the winter time, with a great new perspective on some of my favorite summer peaks Cheers.

Sunday, after the previous week's snow dump settled, I headed out to Source Lake to try the loop route connecting the summer (east side, from main Alpental lot) route with the winter route (west side of the river, from the final Alpental back country lot). I gave this a half-try last week starting on the winter route but was too high and was mainly looking for a climbing path to the Great Scott Bowl and Pineapple Pass. I was actually at the right "crossroads" last week but went up/left for the bowl instead of down/right for the hookup to the lake and the other trail. Trail conditions: little rough on the summer trail in--three inches of dust on hard ice crust made for some dicey walking with and without snowshoes on traverses. Trail was easy enough to follow for the first mile but slow... slow, and eventually it just disappeared. I poked around a bit, pretty sure that nothing looked familiar but not quite sure where things went wrong. One snow shoer ahead of me set out on his own and it felt wrong, so I backtracked. The couple of ski mountaineers heading up Chair Peak had made the proper route choice and I followed their lead, otherwise there was no indication of the trail that I had already hiked three times this winter. (and about 200 yards later the snow shoer's trail joined theirs!) Once I got out in the sun at the Source Lake overlook, everything seemed better--snow conditions, obvious trail, a million skiers (seriously, fifty or more). It took me two hours to get to the overlook whereas a month ago on a well-beaten trail with no new snow it took half that time. Wow. Anyway, two hours to the overlook, and with clear and well beaten trail home, just 1:10 to cross the valley and get back to my car. A lovely day in the mountains after a very sweaty and somewhat confusing start. Absolutely no avalanche signs or danger where I was--smooth slopes with a very lightweight dusting on top, and the NWAC predictions indicated it was pretty safe. Just last month on another safe day hiking up to the Snow Lake pass my 14 year-old counted about 30 of what he termed avalanches but what a more seasoned hiker might call small snow releases--a couple inches deep and 50-100 feet long, slow moving, silent, and they stopped before touching the trail. This time... not a single one.

We did a counterclockwise loop starting at the Alpental ski area. To access the summer trail route on the northwest side of the creek we went cross country starting just across from the Sissel ski lift. There was a short decent to the creek ( more of a slide) then an nice easy traverse up to the summer trail route. The summer route was very difficult to navigate in several places. There was 4-8 inches of soft snow on top of a steeply slanted ice layer that formed from the rain last weekend. This made for lots of slipping and lost footing in spite of snowshoes. It was much more difficult than it was when we were there 2 weeks ago. I didn't enjoy this part. I also wanted to mention that my wife has a pair of new MSR Revo Trail snowshoes and they had much better traction than my 20 year old Tubbs. Even with the Revos the going was tough in places. The return trip on the southeast side of the creek was much easier. If I did it again, I would definitely have just done an out and back on the southeast side. The weather was beautiful and the snow covered mountains were quite scenic. 3.5 mi RT but felt more like 8

This was my fourth trip out here in the last two weeks scouting for the optimal approaches to Bryant and Chair Peaks. Today was the first time I tried the winter or snow route southwest of the Snoqualmie River starting at the final Alpental parking lot--you know it's final because there is absolutely no way to drive beyond it. It's a wide cat track for nearly a half mile, making for a pretty easy trip in just boots. But then it more or less dead-ended at a small waterfall--I thrashed about for 20-30 minutes on boot paths uphill to the right before coming to the conclusion that I was wasting my time. Back to the cat track, I took the first small branch uphill to the SW (left of the cat track if you're walking toward Source Lake) and discovered a wealth of ski and some snow shoe tracks that led me up and either forward toward the peaks or back to the car. It was splendid and it looks like all those random trails coalesce back toward the farthest Alpental parking lot or the cat track that goes by the water tank. It would be hard to get lost trying to get back to your car. I did not take my hike far enough below Bryant to reach the back country ski runs that lead up to the Great Scott Bowl (I had hoped to ascend this to Pineapple Pass), but after checking last week's photos and some other stuff like topo maps and Beckey's Cascade Alpine Guide, I realized I turned around maybe 200-300 yards short. RATS! Man, those runs start right under Bryant and angle way up and leftward. Avalanche danger was close to nil, but that was before the snow that hit Friday the 3rd. I've never been a big fan of all those potential avalanche slopes on the summer route--haven't had problems and I check before I go tout and test the snow when I AM out there, but still.... If you have never taken this route in to the Source Lake vicinity, it is definitely worth it--more forested than the summer route on the NE side of the river and therefore more hidden from the sun on nice days, and in the snow there's a lot of "leaning traverses" on hillsides, but that's not such a bad tradeoff for avalanche safety. Tougher for me on snowshoes than an AT skier I assume. The parking lot cuts off about 0.4 miles from the distance, which is also nice, if you don't get off trail and wander like I did. Also a loop hike like one noted here about a week ago looks like a pretty good outing,