Kendall Peak Lakes Snowshoe

 Beautiful day to be out in the mountains. We drove up to Snoqualmie Pass to do the Kendall Peak Lakes Snowshoe. 8.5 miles rt with 1,700 ft elevation gain. The trail goes up a close forest road and is easy to follow. We found the trail well packed down and icy. We used microspikes for the majority of the trip, only using snowshoes in the deeper less traveled on snow within the lake basin.

 Lots of lovely relatively fresh snow covering the trees.

 We followed the road until we reached the steep short cut going straight up the slope, cutting off some of the switchbacks along the road.

The short cut soon joins the main trail on the road.

Looking toward the cirque where Kendall Peak Lakes are located. There was only a light track headed out toward the lakes, we soon found ourselves post holing and switched to snowshoes.

 the lower Kendall Peak Lake

 We had a lunch break at the middle Kendall Peak Lake. We did not attempt to find the upper lake as it is lies among the avalanche prone cirque walls.

 We then snowshoed over toward the overlook area on the road.

 Here we were following a single ski track in soft deep snow. Even on snowshoes I potholed up to my thighs a couple of times.

Wide angle view of Alta Mountain, Keechelus Lake and in the distance Mt Rainier.

 We stayed on the road all the way down, continuing to enjoy this winter wonderland.