Snowshoe Kendall Peak Lakes Washington

This hike is on the East side of Snoqualmie Pass right off of I-90.

Start at Gold Creek and turn up an old forest road, the snow was well packed, so we didn't wear our snowshoes until the snow softened up a couple of miles further along the trail.

 We choose to go up some of the steeper short cuts away from the road.

 A great place to catch my breath and get a glimpse of Mt Rainier to the South.

 We weren't ready to stop at the first lake, so we kept hiking.

 Ate lunch at the second Kendall lake, enjoyed the rest and the sun.

 Hiked over the ridge line to the east for fabulous views.

 Overlook of Keechelus Lake

 Found more short cuts on the way down. Love the deep soft snow going downhill.

Snowshoe at Jungle Creek Washinton

Another snowshoe trip away from avalanche chutes. 8 mile round trip with about 1000 ft elev gain

Jungle Creek is in the Teanaway River Valley north of Cle Ellum

The trail begins on a forest road, the first 1/3 of a mile is shared with snowmobilers, 

then the trail splits off for non motorized activities only.

 We were the first snowshoers to go on this trail since the last heavy snowfall.

Made for heavy going in the deep wet snow, but the weather was great.

 Trail is in the woods, so we only had peak a boo views.

 Where we stopped for lunch and turned around for the day.

 The view was a little better on the way down.

Winter Hike to Ranger Falls and Green Lake on Mt Rainier

A nice winter hike where there are no avalanche chutes, when the avalanche danger is high.

Drove to the Carbon River entrance on Mount Rainier. 

We didn't need our snowshoes for most of the hike. 

We would hike for 10 miles round trip and 1400 ft elevation gain.

The first 3 miles is along the now closed road at 2100 ft. 

 1 mile after turning up the Green Lake trail is the spur to Ranger Falls

 

0.5 miles further on is the foot log crossing Ranger Creek.

 We put our snowshoes on about 1 mile before Green Lake.

We met a small group coming down who'd spent the night at the lake

 We enjoyed our lunch at the lake before returning home.

Snowshoe at Blewett Pass

The weather was better on the east side of the Cascades, so we headed to Blewett Pass in the Wenatchee National Forest for our snowshoe fun. We hiked for about 8 miles.

 We started by following the forest road on the west side of the pass

 once we neared the ridge line, we went off roared and hike up the ridge.

 We had great views to the North

 and as we hiked back, the clouds lifted over the Cascades

 and we could see Sawtooth ridge to the west.

Snowshoe to Keechelus Ridge

This hike starts right off of I-90 just East of Snoqualmie Pass. 

We snowshoes about 6.5 miles with 2100 ft elevation gain.

The trail starts in the forest, and climbs quickly. 

As we gained elevation we started getting out of the fog and had gorgeous views.

 As we neared Keechelus Ridge, we joined the forest road and shared it with snowmobilers.

Mt Rainier is seen in the background.

At the top of Keechelus Ridge, the Cascade Mountains to the North.

and far to the west we could see the Olympic Mountains through the gap in the Cascade Mountains 

  We had a quick descent once we returned to the steep hillside in the forest

as the snow was deep and soft.

Snowshoe at Hurricane Ridge

Beautiful day, we headed to Hurricane Ridge to snowshoe around.

We started out on the road toward Hurricane Hill.

 We had great views of the Olympic Mountains to the South

 and the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the North

 There were x-coountry ski tracks, but we were the first snowshoers out this morning 

and had to make our own tracks.

 We climbed up the hill.

 Because of the large cornice on the right side of the ridge, and no clear trail to take through the steep parts, we decided to play it safe and snowshoe back to the Visitor Center

 We also snowshoed around the area near the visitor center enjoying the sun

 and had a great view of Mt Baker to the Northeast across Puget Sound

Snowshoe Narada Falls to Reflection Lakes to Paradise and back at Mt Rainier National Park

Lots of fresh snow, but acceptable Avalanche risk levels. We headed out to Mt Rainier.

Started at the parking lot at Narada Falls. A good place to start/end the hike

 as there are large heated restrooms available to change in.

 It seemed like we were in a winter wonderland.

 The trail does go through a couple of avalanche chute areas

 Much more snow than when I was at Reflection Lakes in November.

 After Reflection Lakes, we took the snow covered road to Paradise to enjoy some hot chocolate.

Then hiked back down to the Narada Falls parking lot. While we were returning, the snow stopped,

the clouds lifted a bit and we could enjoy the sight of some of the surrounding ridges.