Hiked Heather Lake starting at 2pm. We had done Deer Creek Rd prior so my feet were pretty worn out with snowshoes so I stuck to micro spikes or just hiking shoes. Parking right now is about .5 miles from the trailhead and covered in packed snow/slush. From the trailhead, you only cross a couple snow sections for the first mile and a half with several flowing stream/water crossings. The last mile or so is very deep snow and I was postholing for a short section close to the lake up to my hip. My partner had snowshoes and he was slipping and sliding in snowshoes and having difficulty navigating down trees, very hard and icy snow, and rough terrain. He ended up taking snowshoes off for majority of the way down. We made it to the lake in about 1.5 hours and down in 1.25 hours. It was beautiful and worth it right now but heavily trafficked causing very packed and icy conditions. I would recommend bringing both micro spikes and snowshoes and definitely hiking poles which helped greatly. 

Road:  Made it to trailhead in RAV4.  Without AWD and knowing my car in 6" of slush, would not have made it.  Can park clear of deep slush ~0.5 miles from trailhead on side of forest road - just be conscious of the private driveways and traffic flow.

Trail: First third no ice/snow, second third slushy, last third snow.  Need at least microspikes or poles, better with both.  Waterproof boots major plus.  Please be conscious of the avalanche chutes around the far side of the lake and do not follow the bootpack trail too far around the lake.

Nice hike out in the woods, snow started about halfway up. Definitely would want some traction devices for the hilly parts but no snowshoes or poles needed. Saw a lot of people walking on the snow surrounding the lake, likely on sections that are actually over the water—the lake is not completely frozen over and it’s actually quite dangerous to do, so I do not recommend taking any risks there. Overall a great hike that wasn’t too busy. Definitely wet out there so you’d want hiking boots.

 Short hike up to Heather Lake today.  Snow started about 2/3rds of the way up and had about 4" at the lake itself.  Walked around the lake and got to pet a couple of good pup-pups with their people : )  Trail was wet and a tad slick at times, but I never put on micro spikes.  55min up 45min down.