Stunning day and while we didn't quite make it to the lake I would still say it was totally worth it! If anyone is going tomorrow, you should find a well compacted trail along the road now, but it is still slick in areas, so spikes will be helpful. The road is a little icy, but pretty clear and the plows widened the shoulder for more parking this afternoon.
We started around 8:30 and we were the only ones there, breaking trail through new snow. It was a made a little easier by old vehicle tracks that had compacted the snow some, but it had at least 6 inches of new snow which made it slow going. By the time we got back it was a totally different story. We saw two other hiking groups on our way down, then a couple Jeeps. We also saw a 4Runner that was badly stuck and a super nice guy with an ATV came by and helped us get them out. When we got back to the parking lot it was busy with kids sledding and families hanging out with a campfire going. It looked like a lot of fun.
The road was stunning! Early in the day the trees were heavily loaded with snow, some bent all the way down to the road, and you never knew when they were going to pop up like a whip and shower everything in snow! There were frequent frosty mountain views and a couple tiny waterfalls. Two spots had some water running across the road but they were both shallow and very easy to cross.
When we got to the lake trailhead the sign was clearly visible, but as soon as we stepped off the road we were in thigh deep snow, even with snowshoes. We waded in a little ways until we saw and heard water below the snow, but we couldn't tell where the trail was supposed to be. We saw some posts that might be some kind of bridge or boardwalk, but decided that we were too far from the road to risk getting wet. We turned back and enjoyed the mountain views on the way back. We spoke with another group of snowshoers and they said they didn't make it to the lake either. Even if I never make it to the lake I would do it again on a day like this.
We ventured on the road a little past the trailhead after our failed lake attempt to see what was around the corner, but didn't see much. We clocked 8.9 miles, 1.5kft gain, 4 hours moving time, a little under 5 hours out there. The link below is our intended trail, not what we actually did.
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