Forest road to trailhead is in rough condition. Deep potholes > high clearance vehicle recommended. Though I did see a couple of sedans at the trailhead so YMMV. Got there around 8 am and there were already some 8-10 cars. There's a tree down soon after starting, lots of stream crossings, but all doable with boots without getting your feet wet. After a couple of miles, the trail was very icy, traction advised. In a group of three, one of us had poles, the other had spikes, and the third only boots; bring what you need for a very slippery and steep trail. Closer to the lake, a big three is down and left a tricky crossing, you can either go around it or climb it. Both options will require to go slow and steady. 

Gorgeous at the lake. Beautiful views. The lake was mostly frozen and a couple of people were walking on it, but it didn't seem like the best idea. Lots of mushrooms today if you take the time to look around.

This is a popular trail it seems, even in the winter and with such a difficult access with the road to Mt Pilchuk, so be prepared to share the trail.

Went up Heather Lake this afternoon. Road was icy and full of potholes. Decided to park on the side of the road about a half mile befits the trailhead and walk the road. Took snowshoes but didn’t really need them until I hiked around the lake where I was breaking trail. Just one majorly downed tree near the trailhead, but fairly easy to go under. Microspikes were helpful at times on the way up, and particularly on the hike down. Lake was gorgeous and snow covered.

My friend and I had a bit of time that morning, so went up to Heather Lake to play in the snow!  We used Micro-spikes on a couple small steeper spots, but waterproof boots were all that was really necessary.  The parking lot was basically snow free.  The snow gradually increased to about 2ft deep or so at the lake-SO Beautiful!! The water about ¾ frozen over, but didn’t seem very think yet.  There were a surprising number of folks on the ice though!  Whew!  I’m so glad no one fell through!  Maybe is was safer than I thought it was, but seemed risky to me. . . .We took the trail around the lake to see the different views and enjoyed some snacks on the back side before heading back down to the car.  Great Little jaunt into the hills! 

Road to trailhead: There are still downed trees on Mt Pilchuck road getting to the trail head. You can park about 1/2 mile from the trailhead and easily walk up to parking lot/trailhead. I recommend parking before snow starts on the road, I tried to go up through the snow and even with AWD and good winter tires, it was too slushy and deep to go further (and even if you can make it through the slush, there is a downed tree blocking access.)

Trail: Intermittent snow and streams from the start but easy to hike without micro spikes for first half of hike. I put mine on about 1.5miles in just before the bigger stream crossing. Lots of downed trees - none too hard to get around but just a little slower going in current conditions. As the trail flattens out and you start to approach the lake, the trail was a little hard to follow and I was happy to have a GPS map downloaded.

Lake: Snow is much deeper at the lake. You don’t need snowshoes to get to the lake, but if you want to explore off the main boot path, snowshoes will help a lot. I used mine (might as well after carrying them up!) and it prevented big postholing as I explored the lake a bit more. 

With parking on the road, my GPS tracked 5.4 miles round trip and 1,235 ascent. Just under 3hours all together. Saw just 4-5 other hikers on this quiet Wednesday morning! (Started 10:30am and back to car by 1:15pm)

Between the full streams and deep snow, waterproof boots, wool socks, and/or gaiters will be helpful! I saw a couple hikers without micro spikes (not sure if they went all the way to the lake), but I would highly recommend traction especially for the way back down. Happy trails.

**Recommend bringing snowshoes or at least microspikes**

We arrived at the trail around 10:15 am and parked about 0.6 miles from the trailhead - there were several other cars along the road as well, as the remainder of the road to the trailhead was covered in deep, pothole-filled snow and several downed trees.

We used snowshoes to get from our parking spot to the trailhead, then took them off for the first mile or so of the hike. There was occasional snow in the first half of the hike, but it was passable in regular hiking boots. There were a few stream crossings (waterproof hiking boots recommended!) and a number of downed trees to negotiate. Eventually, the snow became pretty consistent and deep, and we started sliding around and falling into existing postholes. We decided it was time for snowshoes and they certainly made a difference. 

About a quarter mile from the lake, the trail kind of disappears. We followed some existing snowshoe tracks and eventually made it to the lake - it seems like there were a few different trails being made for that last bit. We had to be pretty careful here though, since the snow was getting softer and even with snowshoes we would occasionally posthole. The lake and mountain view at the top was lovely.