[Elvis]

Well... there are so many ways to spin a trip report that I'm not sure how to relay my story about my time on the Heather Lake trail today. Trail Status: Snow shoes not needed at the trail head - there is quite a bit of the trail that is not snow covered, for the first half mile or so. Parking lot is accessible and road is drivable... as long as you have something with higher clearance than my Camry. About 1/2 mile from the TH I began pushing snow with the vehicles front end. Not knowing what lay in waiting up ahead I chickened out and backed up to wide spot near a driveway and parked the car there. Lots of blow downs on the trail. Verlot Ranger informed me there was at least 21 blowdowns. A couple right at the beginning of the trail had me stumped for a few minutes trying to figure out which way the trail actually went. Most blowdowns are easy to navigate over, but a few required a stealthy crawl or a crotch-high slide-over. Encountered five people on the trail today, plus one beautiful Husky (Preston). All were encountered on my return from the lake. The Story (abbreviated version) I've been sick lately with the bug going around (not vomiting... just congestion and no voice). Two of my three partners for the day were also sick and dropped out. The third had to attend a funeral. So, another solo trip for me. In my sickened condition I considered staying home... but I didn't feel bad I just sounded bad. My original Feb outing was scheduled for the 10th but I postponed it until now... certainly I could buck up for four miles to Heather Lake. As noted above, I couldn't get to the parking lot due to the low clearance of my vehicle. So I parked near a gated driveway, at a wide spot in the road, with a note on the window as to why I parked here & I hung my NW Forest pass in the window. I huffed up the road... only to discover my gloves were missing. Turned around, hufffed back down the road, found the gloves and resumed my road walk. Noted a quiet parking lot with only one car... a new suby.

parking lot - new suby

TH marker

After navigating the blowdowns at the beginning of the trail I began my mostly uneventful journey up the trail. This was my first time to this trail and was hoping for a nice view of Pilchuck if nothing else.

trail

trail

peach arch

snow curl

snow bomb warning

I walked and walked... eventually came to deeper snow and I should have stopped to don the snowshoes, but I didn't want to take a break. I finally started postholing frequently and came across a few potential tree well risks. Good time to stop and put on the snowshoes even though I was sure the lake was just around another corner (or two, or three). Dropped my pack, put on the left snowshoe... and realized the Right snowshoe was no where in the area. It obviously slipped off somewhere along the trail. So, with one snowshoe on and one off I called it quits at 12:30pm. Huffed it back down the trail and finally located my snowshoe, right where I had to crawl under a blowdown.

lost but found

I put the missing snowshoe on and huffed back to the parking lot (almost losing my glasses along the way) where I was greeted by a Snohomish County Sheriff SUV. He was writing a ticket for someone without their pass. I asked about the status of my vehicle and he informed me that I was ticket free but should park away from driveways.

card front

card reverse

Then I couldn't find my contact case... but it was in my pack. Home to unpack and dry out until my next scheduled outing March 10th. ~E

[wildernessed]

I wish I would have been ticketed with a note instead of a 101.00 fine, glad you didn't get hazed and fleeced though.

[Opus]

Hey, that's my car! I guess we just missed bumping into you on the trail. We were on our way down from the lake and started to see post-holed footprints and started to wonder who was up there with us. It was probably our tracks that set off the sort of conga-line of wrong way walking around that first blow down. We lost the trail right there and it looks like most everyone else followed our footsteps. Too bad you didn't make the lake, it sure was pretty up there! So much snow! I'll post some photos in my trip report a bit later. We also received a business card from the Sheriff. It was just his card with todays date written on it. Looks like he left one on all the cars at the trailhead, I assume as a warning to car thieves.