Annette Lake — Sunday, May. 16, 2010

Snoqualmie Region > Snoqualmie Pass

Arrived at trailhead at 8:00am. No other cars. Although three random guys apparently sleeping in a beat up car, parked smack in the middle of the T intersection just off of I-90 was a little random. It was a good reminder to cover up the few valuables we did decide we had to leave in the vehicle. In an earlier report, somebody was complaining about a clear cut, the only one of which we saw was down at the bottom and directly underneath some power lines. Not sure what the grip with that was as it didn't strike any of us as out of the ordinary. It was what it was. As for the trail, it was dry and clear up to where it crosses Iron Horse trail. Bridge just uphill from Iron Horse trail completely destroyed. Stepping stones only across small creek. Snow begins to show itself just about at the 2 mile mark, just past the top of the switchback section. There are a total of about six or seven avalanche chutes to be crossed just before the lake and at least two of them are in a word, dangerous. Ice axes and crampons are probably not overkill but crossing them without proper caution could result in a very nasty, very long, and likely uncontrollable slide down to the bottom. Gators wouldn't be half bad during that last mile of the trail to keep the snow out of the shoes. Snow is for the most part hard packed and easy to walk across. Trail is pretty clear to see despite the snow. Annette Lake is beautiful and still almost completely under snow. Saw some possible bear paw prints just at the edge of the lake where the trail meets it. Only two real obstructions to speak of besides the avalanche chutes and those are a decent sized tree across the trail near the top and the washed out foot bridge next to the Iron Horse trail. No real bugs to speak of or they just decided to leave me alone.