With the snow starting to stick in the mountains, we are anxious to find some short distance and low elevation hikes to practice hiking in snowshoes before tackling hillsides, deep snow pack, etc. Though we have snowshoed before, we are not quite sure our skills are up to the task of winter mountain hiking quite yet.
We chose Skyline Lake trail near the Stevens Pass area in Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest (Cascades region) because it was 3.0 miles round trip, less than 1100 feet in elevation gain and within a two hour drive. With this being our second intentional snow hike, we are finding that perhaps if your not one of the first few on the fresh snow, it seems like micro spikes (in WI think crampons) work just fine. Really because the snow is so compacted by the high volume of hikers that a little more tread with your hiking shoes seems to work just fine. Unfortunately no snowshoeing today, but perhaps next week. Though this hike was short, it was literally... (insert Rob Lowe voice here) up hill for the first 1.25 mile, turning in to a pleasant walk through the woods for the last half mile. The lake and views were a little lack luster, but it's always good to get out and experience something different. And well... not every hike can be 10 stars.
Slow motion tree snow shake!
"Colors are the smiles of nature."
- Leigh Hunt
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