[Stumblefoot]

I couldn't take it anymore, the weather has been too nice recently and the mountains have been calling to me. I knew there was still a lot of snow up in the Olys, but I got a couple of surprise days off before the long weekend, and I decided it was Moose Lake or bust, snow be damned. So I grabbed my pack and my snowshoes and headed up Hurricane ridge early Thursday morning. The Obstruction Point road, though plowed out all the way to the end, is still closed to vehicle traffic, but I wasn't about to let a little thing like an 8 mile road walk stand in my way.

After a 7:00 start, I was out to Obstruction Point a little after 11, stopped for lunch and a bit of a rest before slipping on my snowshoes and heading out Lillian Ridge. From this point the trail was about 90% snow covered the rest of the way to the lake, approximately 3 to 6 feet deep. Mostly it was fairly difficult, but there were a few spots that were a real bugger.

The first 1000 feet of elevation drop down the switchbacks off of Lillian Ridge in particular were a real treat. Not a big fan of steep side-hill snowshoeing. Finally ditched the snowshoes and just trudged my way down out of the snow to the lake.

Having not just Moose Lake, but the entire Grand Valley all to myself for the evening was pretty unique, almost eerily so. After a quick dip in the still partially snow-covered lake, I thawed out in the sun for a while, and woke up with the local deer making off with my sweat-soaked clothes. I'm glad I did have the whole valley to myself, so no one had to witness a middle aged, balding, overweight, slightly sunburned naked guy run around hurling rocks and obscenities at the pesky little critters.

Coming back up Lillian Ridge the next day, instead of trying to follow the snow covered switchbacks, I just shot straight up to the top of the ridge, stayed out of the snow almost all the way to the top. Oh, and crossing the snowfield at the top where the way-trail takes off towards Moose mountain was a bit sketchy. Other than that the trip back to the Hurricane Ridge parking lot was fairly eventful, except for a bit of a knee sprain that slowed me down the last couple miles. All in all it was a gorgeous hike, but i wouldn't recommend it to anyone just yet, unless you are comfortable with steep high country snow travel, with very little trail to follow. Another few weeks or a month and the trail should be much more navigable.

[RAW-dad]

What a treat to have GV all to yourself!

[Bootpathguy]

[Pyrites]

A dip? Yipes.

[bobbi]

OMG "I'm glad I did have the whole valley to myself, so no one had to witness a middle aged, balding, overweight, slightly sunburned naked guy run around hurling rocks and obscenities at the pesky little critters." the only words worthy of your trip report is: I'm glad I did have the whole valley to myself YOU DID IT thank you for sharing your adventure!