Kendall Knob

We drove up to the east side of Snoqualmie Pass to snowshoe up to Kendall Knob, 8 miles round trip with 1,800 ft of gain. 

Looking south along Coal Creek near the beginning of the trail.

The forest walk was beautiful with the fresh snowfall from last night, we only saw some fresh ski tracks on our way up.

It was mostly cloudy this morning.

There were no fresh tracks once we passed the turn off to Kendall Lakes.

We broke trail for the last portion of this hike.

Icicles on the trees:

We had some partial views to the east while we took our lunch break, looking down at Gold Creek Pond and Keechelus Lake>

Every thing looks so beautiful and peaceful covered in fresh snow.

One of the Kendall Peaks came out of the clouds as we were snowshoeing back down the trail.

We saw some blue sky and some peekaboo views as we returned down the trail:

 

Mount Walker

I drove up south of Quilcene to hike up Mount Walker going to both the North and South Viewpoints, overall 5.5 miles with 2,000 ft of gain. There was no snow or ice on the trail and the morning was cloudy.  Lots of tall trees along this steep trail.

This shelf fungus was as large as my head.

At the top there was some fresh snow on some of the leaves and branches from last nigh.

Mostly cloudy view at the North Viewpoint:

And more cloudy at the South Viewpoint:

Pleasant morning on the trail, only saw 2 other hikers on the way up and about 10 as I was going back down the trail.

 

Little Salmon La Sac Road Snowshe

We drove up to the Salmon La Sac SnoPark to snowshoe part way up the Little Salmon La Sac Road our route was 5.5 miles round trip with 1,000 ft of gain. We encountered one group of snowmobilers on our way down, and one other hiker. We mostly had the day to ourselves.  

The snow was mostly packed down from previous snowmobiles, but the snow was wet and soft, so we were glad to have our snowshoes.

The road is mostly in the forest.

We had a few peek a boo views.

There is a lovely viewpoint about 1.5 miles up the road.

Lemah Mountain (zoom) to the northwest

zoom of other peaks to the north

Davis Peak to the north

Red Mountain to the west

We saw lots of rabbit tracks, 

and what looked like a small wildcat tracks.

A short way before we turned around, we crossed over the snow for this partial view.

It was nice to be out under a blue sky today!

High Hut

Drove up to the Upper SnoPark at the South District of the Mount Tahoma Trail Association near Ashfort to snowshoe up to High Hut. From the upper SnoPark, this was 6 miles round trip with 1,750 ft of gain. Only saw 11 others today. View of Mt Rainier from High Hut this morning:

The drive up to the upper SnoPark was snow free, and the snow started on the trail at the end of the parking area. The closed road was bare in some places, but I stayed on the side as requested of hikers and snowshoers. About 1/2 way up, the snow was soft enough that I put on my snowshoes. There were lots of creeks running as the freezing level is up around 7.000 ft today.

Some of the creeks along the road.

So happy to have a view of Mt Rainier on this mostly cloudy day!

zoom of the Goat Rocks to the southeast:

zoom of Mt St Helens to the southwest:

 

Gold Creek and Heli Ponds

We went to the Gold Creek SnoPark at Hyak on the east side of Snoqualmie Pass to snowshoe around Gold Creek Pond and Heli Pond. Our route was 4.7 miles with minimal gain. The closed road to Gold Creek Pond, the trail around Gold Creek Pond and to Heli Pond were all well packed and we carried our snowshoes until we started post holing on the back side of Heli Pond. View of Gold Creek before reaching Gold Creek Pond.

View of Gold Creek Pond from the south shore

Some views along the north shore of Gold Creek Pond

Heli Pond from the south shore

Heli Pond from the north and east shores