[PaleoCook]

4.9mi || 1,423ft Elevation Gain || Total Time: 2:31 First, the roads. Mountain Loop Highway is fine, it gets a little icy but nothing worth worrying over.

Once you make the turn onto Mt. Pilchuck Rd (NF-4220) the road quickly becomes packed snow and ice with several large ruts. I was fine in my Forester with AWD, high-clearance, and stock all-season tires (waiting on my Hakka R2s..).

I was the first car in the lot at 9:15am or so. I had it all to myself…for about 5 minutes =). A couple more cars came up right around 9:30am as I was heading onto the trail.

Out of laziness, I strapped my snowshoes on at the car. It took about 100 yards on the trial to realize that was a mistake and that I only needed microspikes. You can do this whole hike in microspikes at the moment. The only area that could benefit from snowshoes would be adventuring around the lake itself.

The hike up was quick, I did a little scramble near the beginning but decided to get back on trail fairly quick. There were a couple other parties going up and we traded places once or twice. A lot of ice on the trail, I wouldn’t do it with just boots.

Once I got up to the lake, I grabbed some pictures and decided to walk around the lake. I misjudged the trail on the far (south) end of the lake and ended up walking on the lake itself (in many other boots mind you, but this is no excuse). Walking on frozen lakes is something I try to avoid – I got lucky and didn’t have any moments but that type of thing (falling into a frozen lake) happens fast. So, don’t follow my boots around onto the lake please. Do look at my GPS trail and see where I went wrong and could have done better. I might even go back up tomorrow to take the correct path and not walk on the lake!

My hike down was quick and just a little steep at some points. Passed a few more parties and got back to my car in just over two and a half hours’ total time. The parking lot was almost full at this point, but there were still a few spots for some more AWD, high-clearance SUVs and trucks. The drive down the road back to Mountain Loop Highway was fun, a bit bouncy, and not to be done in a 2WD car. WTA: http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-reports/trip_report.2017-01-13.4315737117 Garmin GPS: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1523843974 Hillmap: http://www.hillmap.com/m/ag1zfmhpbGxtYXAtaGRychULEghTYXZlZE1hcBiAgIDIvdaQCAw Flickr: https://flic.kr/s/aHskSsnXmy

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