Skyline Lake, Skyline Lake Snowshoe — Friday, Jan. 4, 2002

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - East

Jan 5-6 Hwy 2 to Stevens Pass - park on the left side of the lot, and if going overnight make sure to park in the last 2 rows towards the cabins, of course always ask to make sure you don't get towed. Hike up the trail towards the cabins and veer right after the first cabin. There are plenty of snowshoe tracks to follow, and noticed this morning on our way down that it was groomed for a few hundred feet as well. Follow the switchbacks which are quite wide all the way up to the ridge. There are a few beacon towers or microwave towers along the way as well. For some reason, the orange paintcan guy got to this trail as well. How could you not find your way on this trail' Even with lots of fresh snow it seems impossible to get lost. Anyway, we hiked past Skyline Lake and traversed north to a saddle where we found a good place to setup camp. Due to a cancellation of our climb up Mt Hood this weekend due to 55-80 mph winds at the Tiberline Lodge (elev 5900'), we thought we had to make use of our stuffed paks somewhere! So we dug out the shelter of all shelters (it was a palace) and set up the tent. It was a nice quiet evening with low winds and no snowfall. The lights of the Ski area lit up the valley, and not until 11pm did the snow and wind pick up, but not inside our shelter, it was calm and nice. We awoke at 6am to a gorgeous sunrise and stars, but that did not last long as the air started to get warm and tree bombs started to fall on us. We packed up camp and traversed down to Skyline Lake. From there we left our backs and tried to ascend a small butte at the North end of the lake about 200-300 feet higher. We found ourselves 10 feet below the summit but it was too steep w/o iceaxes so we had to retreat. Nice hike down, with only a few people on the trail. This is an ideal place to go backcountry skiing when there are low avalanche conditions. I will return soon to ski the distance. Photos to come soon at www.nwog.org.