Another glorious day in the mountains. Tossed a coin between ice climbing at Franklin Falls and hiking to Snow/Source Lakes. This trip won. Parked at Alpental lot and started about 9:15 with my car's thermometer saying it was 5 degrees. Intense sun made it feel much warmer. The trail is very well packed and defined--didn't need snow shoes until crossing one open slope about 90 minutes into it (and five minutes later, emerged above Source lake. There were a ton of AT skiers on the other side, hiking up and skiing down the lower (and middle!) slopes of Chair and Bryant Peaks. Could not find the uphill switchbacks for Snow Lake, but thrashed around gaining about 200 ft of altitude to 4020 ft in an exhausting and powdery 20 minutes. Hell with that! Took a ton of photos and headed home. On the way back, about 11:30, I noticed that a lot of those pristine open snow slopes I had traversed hours earlier had some new snow-slide activity. Too small to call them avalanches--maybe 40 ft wide, 200 ft long, and 6-12 inches deep. But they did obscure the trail that I then tried to stomp down to make it obvious. One happened while I was there, silent, a few inches deep, and 25 feet wide. Nothing, really, but it makes you pause. On the way back I crossed paths with another hiker who found a switchback that (on reading my topo map left in the car) was probably the right one--if you are overlooking Source Lake and in full view of Chair, Bryant, Hemlock etc, then you are past the right-side turnoff for Snow Lake. Ah well, next perfect day. Timing: boots and snowshoes, about 90 minutes to stand above Source Lake (and maybe 80-85 to the Snow Lake turnoff). I stopped and shot lots of pictures, adding ten+ minutes. Once I turned around it was about 60 minutes from the slopes above Source Lake to the Alpental lot. More pictures at the indicated link.

It was a very cold day as we started out from Alpental. My vehicle thermometer continued to drop as we drove toward the pass and when we turned off I90 it said 5°F; then when we parked it read zero. But we were committed to getting some exercise on a beautifully clear day. So we departed (0910) up the service road and then into the forest where Arthur put on his snowshoes while I did not. There were trails already compacted, and because of the cold, and since I did not sink in I kept the shoes off the entire way. We got some sun breaks in several clearings on the way up that really helped to keep the hands warm. Raynaud's syndrome is always something I've had to deal with; and have purchased many gloves/mitts over the years, to find the right solution. Heavy (expedition), waterproof, mitts are always the best choice although they make it difficult to use the camera or do other tasks. So we arrived at the shaded and frozen Source lake at 1130, then went up to the sunny slope above where we stopped for lunch and then headed back. It was a good "shake-down" trip to see what worked in the bitter cold we experienced.

My boyfriend and I headed to Alpental to hike to Source Lake for the New Year’s holiday. We started out on the groomed trail from the upper lot at Alpental, then about 1/3 of a mile in, we crossed the creek and climbed the switchbacks up the hill. We crossed the steep slopes on a well-established trail, and saw evidence of recent avalanches in the area. Our trail ended above Source Lake and we found a spot out of the ski runs to eat some lunch. On the way back, we took the lower trail, at the bottom of the valley. This trail was much busier than the higher trail, but it was fun to do a loop. The snow was fantastic, light and fluffy and we found places outside of the compact snow trails to enjoy our snowshoes. As the region is shared with backcountry skiers, extra caution is necessary on the trail, and it is not an ideal trail for solitude. There are tons of different routes and trails, many of which lead to high avalanche risk areas, so it is important to keep your wits about you. The panoramic views were incredible and we enjoyed the snowshoe from start to finish! Our book estimated the trail to be 5 miles, my mileage tracker calculated the mileage as 4 miles. To get some extra mileage in, we walked down to the lodge and ate our lunch in front of the fire at Alpental. It was a bit extreme to go from the quiet of Source Lake to the hustle and bustle of the ski lodge, but nice to get warmed up by a fire in a 19F day!

After a lazy Christmas morning, we figured there was no better gift for all involved than a bit of snowy immersion. The dogs agreed, so we drove to the upper/last Alpental parking lot where the trail is clearly visible, looking like a wide, snowed over forest road. We followed the snowy road a bit, which, it turns out is a snow-cat ski trail with backcountry skiers whizzing by occasionally, so stay sharp and keep to the sides. After a half mile and a bit of a climb, lots of trails branch off into the woods offering plenty of amazing scenery to explore above and along the creek. We crossed the creek on one scenic (and thankfully solid) snow bridge and explored the tundra on the other side a bit before running out of time and needing to get back for other Christmasy things. If continuing on from here, please heed the avalanche warnings: anywhere in this area that there aren't trees, ask yourself why. Plenty of people had the same idea for this beaut of a day, and I don't remember the last time I saw so many people and dogs on one trail. Great minds think alike. And none of us were wrong: this is a gorgeous place for a snowy walk, and I'm happy to live in an area where so many people chose to grab their dogs, kids, grandparents, and whoever else was game to spend their Christmas day in the mountains.

We went out on a quick walk to introduce some folks to snowshoeing. It was raining and melting but the trail was easy to follow as usual and the surface was fine. No one had been up since the last snowfall. Conditions were good for loose wet slides, so we moved quickly through the first large open slope. The second larger open slope (boulder field underneath if memory serves) had slid in several places from a trigger a long distance up and probably 4 to 6 feet of fresh debris covered the trail in one place. The slides looked fresh. (We did not get closer to more accurately measure the slides) At that point we decided it would be a better idea to head back for lunch and make it a short day. This trail is probably one to avoid for a while until the snowpack stabilizes.