Nature's Playgrounds: Skyline Lake February 9, 2013

Snow shoeing is not Derrick's favorite outdoor activity. However, in the winter there aren't many other options. After a bit of negotiating, I convinced him another snow shoe trip was in order and sure enough he had a great time!

The destination this time was Skyline Lake, again very near Stevens Pass. We parked in the north lot and hit the trail. You follow a groomed road up so snow shoes weren't even really necessary for a lot of the hike. It was a fairly gradual climb with increasingly nice views. We reached the end of the road at a tower (cell phone maybe?). At this point you have a nice view in several directions.

Here we mistakenly followed a smaller trail that we thought was leading to the lake. We soon realized it didn't quite seam right, but were almost at a high point so decided to keep going. We got up to a nice little summit where we met a few snowboarders and back country skiers. It was their tracks we followed. They were getting ready to hit some backcountry slopes so we took over their spot and had a nice lunch.

The views were great and the weather was quite cooperative. We decided our high point was more exciting than the lake so didn't bother to make a stop there on the way down. We realized later that the turn off to the lake is actually before you get to the tower. On the way down we attempted a mini glisade without much success. However, we did manage to amuse many other groups who were on their way up.