We attempted this hopes to summit snowking but a storm rolled in and we had to camp for the night and turn around the next day. Our group came close but didn't quite make it to the lake due to bad weather.
Getting to the trailhead you will drive over a few streams, our Subaru handled the road just fine. We got on the trail at about 9:30 am. Starting on the trail you follow an old forest road for about 3 miles, gaining about 1000 feet. Once the road ends you reach to the climbers trail the REAL fun begins. This is a straight up trail through the forest and it's very Strenuous.
After going up this section for about 1-1.5 miles you'll reach a marshy area as you approach the saddle. This is where the snow begins. From here we broke out our mountianeering boots and ice axes. You'll need some route navigation skills to make it to the lake from here. Once we got up the saddle we made it to the ridge. From the first ridge summit you'll have a nice view of snow king. Then you'll Descend this ridge through some trees and go up the next one. We pushed in to summit the next humo on the ridge. At this point we noticed the snow Bridges were becoming treacherous and we still were a solid mile from the lake.
Once we summited this part of the ridge (about 4:30) we could see cyclone and snow king, howerever we noticed we were in for some bad weather. Our group made the call to camp the night at the top of this ridge and turn around in the morning to be safe.
To anyone looking to go here, make sure
You have proper gear and route finding skills. Good luck!
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