Trip Report
Basic Snowshoe - Annette Lake
Lovely solitude on a sometimes very popular trail, but caution required.
David Judish
- Fri, Mar 11, 2022
- Basic Snowshoe - Annette Lake
- Annette Lake
- Snowshoeing
- Successful
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- Snow and ice on road
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Mostly snow covered from parking spot near Exit 47 off ramp. 2-4" light snow on icy firm base. One particularly tricky creek crossing is most safety navigated with ice axe.
NOTE: This trip crosses about 5 avalanche gullies in its upper reaches, with evidence of large recent slides from last week's avalanche cycle. Pay careful attention to avalanche forecast and conditions if attempting this in winter. Today the avy forecast was low below tree line and moderate near and above tree line, but mainly on N slopes. The avy slopes here face west, and with a rapidly warming sunny Spring day could be unsafe.
We tiptoed past the sleeping inhabitants of the school bus residing at the road fork just off the exit and walked 1/3 mile to the summer parking area. Micro spikes were extremely useful. One snowshoe course student used snowshoes to obtain credit, but they were not essential today.
The last creek crossing as the trail traverses to the lake was icy with a thin veneer of snow. While there is no major exposure, it may be unsafe in some conditions. The one participant with an ice axe used it here. If I led this again under similar conditions, I would classify the trip as an intermediate snowshoe, and require ice axes.
The lake was tranquil with calm winds.
On this cloudy Friday, we saw no one until returning past the bus inhabitant, now fully awake.