[cascadetraverser]

Day One: We originally wanted to head to the Olympics, but the weather looked iffy, so we opted to head over to the east side; Golden Lakes loop was suggested by a veteran ski friend so with sun in the forecast for the east cascades; off we went. We drove within 1 mile of the trailhead and hoofed it to there and walked 1/2 mile until snow was continuous and put on our skis for only a short spell and then hiked about 1-2 miles until snow resumed. Loads of downfall to cross. After a late start, we spied a rise that looked dry (not far after the trail junction for Eagles Lakes); checked it out and it was the perfect respite from a cold snowy forest. Views and a nice platform for camping.

Day two: Perfect sunny morning and we headed out following the snowed in trail fairly easily except for a bunch of downfall to cross and made it to the junction with Martin lakes; headed straight up the ridge and then dropped in Martin lakes, all pretty much buried in snow but so pretty. It looked lots nicer than when I had brought my young children here on a family trip almost 15 years prior. Made camp and then dropped most of our weight and headed on skins up to the upper lakes and Eric and I zigzagged up close to the summit of Martin (been to the top some years back) and had a glorious ski run all the way back to camp. Watched the sun set, had a happy hour and went to bed early; cold outside but warm in the bag!

Day three: Great night sleep and up to a warm morning. After breakfast, we packed up and then skied down through the trees back to the junction where one of our team rested while the other three of us made our way towards Cooney Lake; the travel was the best yet, with few downfalls and nice easy skinning through trees and then open basins. The urge to ski was so great, we skipped our goal to hit Cooney and did yo yo runs instead and then easily skied back to the junction, where all four of us skied back to our first camp. Whizzed down pretty fast actually. Back to our mini rock ridge, we enjoyed a fire and drinks!

= Day four: Fairly easy ski back to our car. I wanna go back and spend more time in the next few years; great terrain for ski trips.

[Fletcher]

Sweet!

[fourteen410]

Good to see a TR from you again! Was afraid you wouldn't post again after last summer's drama

[cascadetraverser]

Thanks for the kind words; drama over now and all forgotten; and in the future posts, no fire pics! 😉

[timberghost]

thanks for posting

[Nancyann]

What a fun trip, thanks for posting! It sounds like the road was in bad shape the last mile, were the potholes pretty deep?

[tommytownsend]

road was in good shape except for snow, no doubt melted out by now.

[MangyMarmot]

Nice trip! Love the area.

[raising3hikers]

Nice trip, looks like a good time and great skiing

[timberghost]