Lanham Lake
I started off the winter season the best way possible, a snowshoe trip with my sister Jennifer.
Jennifer just got new snowshoes for her birthday, so was excited to try them out. We've not been snowshoeing together much, something I hope to change this winter. Our objective today was Lanham Lake which sits just east and south of Stevens pass. The summer trail is 3.2 miles with 1500 feet elevation gain to 4100'.
The weather was not perfect, but we got the best of it by starting early when it was snowing and not raining. The other benefit of starting early is that there are not alot of other people on the trail or at the lake. We had the trail mostly to ourselves on the way up (got passed by a really cute solo guy who passed us twice, on his way up and down while we were still going up).
I had my GPS with me to help us guage the distance left to the lake. I recall from the last two trips I've taken to this lake, that the hike takes much longer than expected, and being that it is easy to loose the trail in the snow I wanted pre-programed coordinates of the lake as back-up. (when following a boot pack you hope that everyone before you went the right way). Of course the distance to the lake by GPS was as the crow flies, so a bit deceptive as to how much longer it would take at any point, but we were able to see that we were making progress. As it turns out, a straight line from car to lake would be 1.4 miles, the summer trail is listed as 1.6 miles, and the GPS measured the trip as being 2.3 miles. There was a lot of snaking around to get over downed trees, and find the safest spot to cross creeks. Felt like we were following a snake at times.
I was pleased that we did make it to the lake, and in a decent time of 2 hours. Not a record (either fastest or slowest) but a good starting point to work from.
The snow was a little bit old, so not fluffy, and we really didn't even need the snowshoes to follow the boot pack (solo cute guy had his strapped to his back) So we had to go out of our way to cut across untrompled clearings in order to really need the snowshoes and give them a true test. We did find a few nice banks to jump into off of logs, and in general had a great time.
Jennifer just got new snowshoes for her birthday, so was excited to try them out. We've not been snowshoeing together much, something I hope to change this winter. Our objective today was Lanham Lake which sits just east and south of Stevens pass. The summer trail is 3.2 miles with 1500 feet elevation gain to 4100'.
The weather was not perfect, but we got the best of it by starting early when it was snowing and not raining. The other benefit of starting early is that there are not alot of other people on the trail or at the lake. We had the trail mostly to ourselves on the way up (got passed by a really cute solo guy who passed us twice, on his way up and down while we were still going up).
I had my GPS with me to help us guage the distance left to the lake. I recall from the last two trips I've taken to this lake, that the hike takes much longer than expected, and being that it is easy to loose the trail in the snow I wanted pre-programed coordinates of the lake as back-up. (when following a boot pack you hope that everyone before you went the right way). Of course the distance to the lake by GPS was as the crow flies, so a bit deceptive as to how much longer it would take at any point, but we were able to see that we were making progress. As it turns out, a straight line from car to lake would be 1.4 miles, the summer trail is listed as 1.6 miles, and the GPS measured the trip as being 2.3 miles. There was a lot of snaking around to get over downed trees, and find the safest spot to cross creeks. Felt like we were following a snake at times.
I was pleased that we did make it to the lake, and in a decent time of 2 hours. Not a record (either fastest or slowest) but a good starting point to work from.
The snow was a little bit old, so not fluffy, and we really didn't even need the snowshoes to follow the boot pack (solo cute guy had his strapped to his back) So we had to go out of our way to cut across untrompled clearings in order to really need the snowshoes and give them a true test. We did find a few nice banks to jump into off of logs, and in general had a great time.