With the avalanche danger at high today, we looked for a route that was rated as very low avalanche risk. Going up to Lost Lake near Keechelus Lake from the Crystal Springs SnoPark via the groomed snowmobile routes was our goal. We did not see any avalanche slopes along this route until after the end of the groomed route up at Lost Lake. This is a highly used area on the weekends. Since we were going up on a weekday on a snowy day we only saw 1 skier at the beginning of our day, and 1 snowmobile passed us as were well on our way. back to the snopark. There were a few skiers starting out on the trails as we returned to the SnoPark, so we had the majority of this route to ourselves today. 10 miles round trip with 800 ft of elevation gain.
Near the very beginning of the ski routes from the SnoPark is a very short side route for snowshoers, it was nice to be in the forest and off the groomed trails for a short while.
The first 3-1/2 miles along the groomed closed forest road, was fairly flat. We saw lots of standing water off to the side of the road from the recent heavy rain storms.
Meadow Creek
The majority of the route looked like this, a groomed snowy forest road in the forest. We were happy to be far from the avalanche slopes.
At the Y in the road just before Lost Lake, we took the road to the left, on the east side of Lost Lake. The grooming stops at this beautiful viewpoint of Lost Lake.
Just past the end of the groomed road, we saw evidence of a recent avalanche. Here we are at 3,200 ft.
There were some nice rocky cliffs on the last mile or so up to Lost Lake.
A little less than 2 miles from the SnoPark area is this route to the dam at the east end of Keechelus Lake.
Signs on the trees showing the snowmobilers that they may encounter skiers, snowshoers and dog sleds on this portion of the groomed trail.
Our route today
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