Last week's blisterfest had healed enough for some XC skiing using the Crystal Springs area for some snow sports. I brought my boots and snowshoes just incase my ski boots were too much of a pain.

DRIVE AND GET PASS: Easy 1-90 to North Bend, my first stop. You will need a groomed trail pass sticker for your car window AND a smaller little specialized groomed sticker you put on the groomed trail pass. This needs to be purchased at the Chevron Station in North Bend. The ticket for not having one is $100+.

PARKING: Beyond Snoqualmie Pass and then exit at 62 is the 4 lots. Park in lot #1 near the port-a-pottys if you can. I imagine this is quite busy on the weekend.

FEE TO PLAY: After paying for the pass and sticker in North Bend as mentioned earlier, it is free to play.

RESTROOMS: Port-a-Pottys or forest. Please LNT

EQUIPMENT RENTAL ON SITE: None

DOGS: Are not allowed on most trails except the dog sled trail. 

GROOMED TRAIL: Part of your $25 parking fee covers grooming in this area. The trail is wide and has both side groomed with tracks for classic skiers. The center is groomed for skate skiers. Which there quite a number on this day.

ETIQUETTE: Trail etiquette is slower skiers stay to the right or in the track. If a faster skier comes up behind they are to go to the left and go around the slower skier. If you are a classic skier and want to ski the inner portion be aware of the faster skate skiers. Snowshoe folks stay far to the sides off the groomed areas and tracks. Please do not walk in the tracks as it will trip skiers.

THE TRIP: We started out from parking lot, then around the Ehrling Stordahl loop, next onto the main ski/snowmobile area and then along the Palouse to Cascades section and dog sled sections. Along the way there were a few off-trail un-groomed areas to explore marked with signs for snowshoe. 

HAZARDS: First Aid-I just recently purchased new XC skis and boots. I had REI look at them last week and insert a small wedge under the insole so my heals wouldn't lift and rub, it was slightly better so there were no hazards except I should have been better prepared last week with some mole skin, larger blister bandages and at least started with some duct tape at the back of my foot to prevent my heals from lifting and rubbing causing quarter sized blisters. 

Food Water- 3.5 miles and 1400 calories meant I gobbled down lunch and all snacks I brought. I also drank 1L of water so bring a water filter if you want to get it from one of the streams located along the way. 

A great day with Olympia Mountaineers group! Made new friends and got to explore an area I hadn't been.

Close to 3.5 miles RT Minimal elevation gain made for a lot of self propulsion 1400 calories burnt. The snow was really perfect even in the ungroomed areas of Ehrling Stordahl.

Easton State Park has a snopark that is an alternative to the super busy one at Gold Pond up by Snoqualmie Pass. Not much snow down in Easton today, so they haven’t started to groom the trails yet,but that should change with the snow coming in this week. I only used snowshoes for a short period of time near the Palouse to Cascades trail. Not many folks here today, as I only ran into  one group of hikers, and a couple groups of cross country skiers.

 I was planning on going further on the Palouse to Cascades trail eastbound,but the bridge/ trestle that crosses the Yakima River and train tracks was fenced off. I was going to take that eastbound and do some exploring east of the trestle, and maybe find an alternative way up to Monahan Mountain. I think this is a seasonal closure. I’m going to check with the park ranger tomorrow, and hopefully find out. Will post an update. 
GPS track below. Quite flat as it was only 200 ft gain in 3 miles 

Added Lake Easton to this trail report to report that our original plan was to go to the sno-park there but when we rolled in and asked the ranger what the snow conditions were like, he said "no snow." Sure there were white patches to the side of the road but nothing for them to really plow since they had been getting more rain than snow recently. My spouse wanted to xc ski with our toddler so we opted not to go. Instead we drove just a bit further east to the Palouse to Cascades Trailhead. 

There were a few inches of snow accumulation but enough cars (probably just the parks vehicles) had been on the road that it was clear for our Camry to drive in and out without any chains or anything. The outhouse was surprisingly unlocked and stocked with TP. (We've been here in the winter before where the outhouse is closed for the season.)

There was enough snow here for our kiddo and dog to be happy. Just did a very short snow walk and the toddler was introduced to xc skiing -- in the parking lot, ha ha. Always a nice, quiet area here during this time of year. We didn't see anyone else. Just a few neighbor horses staring at us. 

Hopefully we get colder temps so we can really xc ski next time! 

This hike wasn’t really from Easton. I started on the Stampede Pass road. You get off I-90 at Exit 62 and go south. The trail crosses the road in a mile or so. You have to go past the Snopark and past the Lost Lake road a bit. The PTC trail is then obvious and there is lots of room to park, although this isn’t an official PTC TH. I went west for a couple of miles and at the intersection with the Lost Lake Trail I turned left and walked up that road a ways. Meadow Creek is right there and it is roaring at this time. There are trillium here and there in the woods on the side of the trail. There were a lot of bikes on the trail today. There was even a Boy Scout troop of about 30 biking towards the east. They told me they had started at Easton Lake State Park and ridden west through the tunnel and then turned around to come back. There are not many mountain views on the section I hiked. For a while you can see  Silver Peak straight ahead. Other than that, it’s not a big  view hike. For days now, it’s been uncommonly hot in Upper Kittitas County for May, and every day we’ve had thunderstorms, sometimes with pouring rain, in the afternoon. Feels like August in May. 

I started at the Easton TH (Discovery Pass required)  and hiked west. I went about 7 miles round-trip. There are many interesting features on this hike. There are two very cool bridges over the Yakima River, a short tunnel to hike through, and good views up towards Hibox and Three Queens and across the freeway to the Silver Creek drainage. The first half mile or so of this hike isn’t that great, as you have to even walk on the road for a little ways to get through town. Once you’re through the town part, though, it becomes quite nice. We were out there a couple of hours and I only saw one other person  and he was riding a mountain bike. This hike is pretty well sheltered by trees from both wind and sun once you get through town. There was no snow on the trail where I hiked, but a little way farther west there is.