This is one of the last of the trails in the Darrington District that I hadn't hiked. I was on the trail for the first time a week ago as part of a WTA work party so, of course, I had to go back and see how the work looked. Aside from some WTA maintenance this year, the Forest Service has also logged out the blowdown and done some brushing and lopping. As the trail climbs to its high point the only obstacles you'll encounter are two great slurking mud-holes. The trail peaks out in a meadow still covered in snow. This made finding the trail difficult. Though there was some pink flagging to provide a clue I chose not to follow them and found my own way down to the lake. This was actually quite easy because of open forest and easy terrain. To recover the actual trail, just follow the fall-line straight down the gully into the lake basin. The lake is mostly open with just a little snow around the edges. This fish are biting; one jumped out of the lake and stole a potato chip. On the way back out I followed the trail up to the meadow. This section of the trail is really just a boot-beat path choked with tree roots. Even though the meadow is mostly under snow, there are some open pools of water with marsh marigolds just coming up. I was surprised to see that there were already frogs in the melt-water ponds getin' busy in the short time they have before the snow-rim ponds turn to tarns then dry up. I climbed the little ridge to the northeast. This takes you to a sharp drop off with expansive views of White Chuck Mountain and Mount Pugh separated by the White Chuck River Valley.

A buddy & I hiked up to Peek A Boo Lake this Memorial Day weekend to try our hand at early season fishing. We met some hikers on the way out who told us the lake was still iced in, so we didn't make it to the lake. Since it was late in the day we camped on a snowy bluff with a beautiful view of Whitechuck Mountain. There was plenty of snow left and we postholed quite a bit. The trail is obscured in quite a few places by snow, and there are a few blowdowns, including one blowdown that was huge and requires some bushwhacking to get around if you don't want to take your packs off and climb through/over it. There is also a couple of spots with water (creek) over the trail, but it's nothing serious. We both found couger scat and tracks up on top of the main hill that faces Darrington. Interestingly enough, we participated, in a small way, in a SAR effort at 4:15am Sunday morning. We woke up to a loud siren going off in groups of three blasts, every 30 seconds or so, coming from the valley floor below. We had nothing to signal with to let them know we heard them, but as they got closer they started calling someone's name. When they finally heard us calling down to them they asked us if we had seen a lady with two dogs. To make a long story short, we heard another voice (a woman's voice) answering us all from some distant location to our right. My buddy stayed at our camp to keep communicating with the SAR group, and I hiked out to the east towards the lake until I could communicate with the woman. We were all able to ""triangulate"" our voices and stay in communication. It turned out she was only about a quarter mile from us and had become lost the previous day. She had slept bewteen her dogs and two large stumps, one of which she ignited as a signalling device and to help her stay warm. She was ok. It brought home to us just how easy it is to get lost in the woods this time of year when snow covers much of the trail. We were also impressed with the four young guys from the Snohomish SAR. If I ever get lost I want them on my trail - they were good. Anyway, that's my report. Enjoy the outdoors and please be careful out there.

Don't miss the trailhead which is off to the left about 30 feet from the end of the drivable road. Patchy snow encountered at about 3600 ft. Solid steep snow starting at 3900 ft. Poles are highly recommended. The buried trail is difficult to follow. This hike will be much better in 2 weeks.

After much fussing around the city Saturday morning, Ean and I finally arrived at the Peek-a-Boo Lake trailhead late Saturday afternoon. Or what we THOUGHT was the trailhead. Since the REAL trailhead is a bit overgrown and I didn't consult my topo map right away, we ended up starting out on the forest service road, and hiking for about a mile before we realized that we were not on the right trail. On the way back down, we ran into 4 other hikers that had the same problem. We all headed back down the road and started on the real trail, to Peek-A-Boo Lake. A few blowdowns in places, but most are easily managable. We reached the meadow at 4300 feet and discovered quite a bit of snow. It took us a while to find the trail on the other side of the snow--I would suggest using your compass. No views, as it was pretty cloudy. Peek-a-Boo Lake was quite nice, very quiet (we were the only two people there) and peaceful. It was cloudy all weekend but not rainy until we reached our car the next day. This is a pretty short hike and the lake has some really nice campsites.

The trail to Peek-A-Boo lake is in fairly good condition with some water, mud on the trail and one blowdown. At the ponds near the high point of the trail, there is snow and the trail is somewhat hard to follow. Look for the blazes on the trees to find the trail. Some people were drawn to the nice views east of the ponds and missed the trail. The trail drops fast and is rooty after the ponds but is snow free. The lake is melted out. The day sunny, the lake pretty, and the views from the ponds were great.