[Opus]

The evil eye of death by avalanche was looming on the NWAC site so we opted to play it safe and head for Oyster Dome this week. Instead of the route up from Chuckanut Drive that Lauren and I had both hiked, we opted to approach from the other side this time. I'd expected some now up high, but we were greeted by enough snow at the parking area to nearly make my Outback bottom out in a few places. Oddly there was also a blue Rav4 covered in snow, apparently parked overnight. We headed up towards Lily Lake, leaving our snowshoes behind, and following a broken trail. Before too long we met the hiker and his dog heading down, turning back near Lily Lake. We pushed on and made good time to the trail junction. We opted to go to Oyster Dome first and have lunch there. The wind was really howling, trees were plastered in rime ice, and the edge of the dome even had a small cornice! We froze as we ate, then headed down to escape the cold wind. Back at Lily Lake, we decided to go past the lake and on to Lizard, making a loop back on the PNW trail to return. But as we passed by the loop trail and campsites we lost all sign of the trail in the snow. The helpful map indicated the trail was "obscure" beyond Lily. No kidding, map!? I remember it wasn't obvious in the spring, without snow, but today there was just no sign of it. So we backtracked and used the PNW trail to reach Lizard Lake instead. At the Lizard Lake camping area we found many fresh footprints but had only seen two people all day. Also there were about 4 campsites packed down and leveled, likely from the Rav4 group. But three of the sides were also lined with freshly cut tree branches. Insulation from the snow? Survival-style camping? No idea, but definitely violates leave-no-trace ethics. We backtracked again and made our descent via the Alternate Incline trail to the road, where we found a family sledding on the snowy hill. Once packed down the snow was very slick and they got moving pretty well in the tire-ruts their SUV left. We hoofed it back to my car, making good time, and were surprised to see much of the snow had melted while we were up top. A beer and food at Skagit River Brewery rounded out the trip and we were back in Seattle with some daylight left.

Deep snow

Lily Lake trail

Lauren

Lauren was here

Leaves

White blaze

Helpful sign addition

Rime ice

Are we having fun yet?

Spike

Frozen rabbit?

North butt.

Heading to Lizard Lake

Cut branches? What went on here?

It's not what?

Fig leaf

Stunt driving tracks.

[seawallrunner]

I love your Leaves picture. Delightful simplicity.

[Elvis]

Nice Pics Opus! It looks like Mountain Winter instead of Chuckanut Winter. I haven't seen that much snow up there before, but not surprising with all the local snow we just received in Mt Vernon/Burlington. ~E