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[pct-l] alpine lakes snow



Hi All, 

I took two greenhorns with me this weekend into the Alpine Lakes for a Memorial Day Weekend romp.  I'll have a full trip write up on my webpage in a couple of days, but for you southbounders and flipfloppers out there, I thought I'd post something about snow.  

We hiked in from Salmon La Sac, with it north of I-90, south of Stevens Pass, and east of Snoqualmie Pass.  After hiking in to Waptus Lake, we got on the PCT heading south bound and climbed up to the Escondido Lakes area, before dropping into the Lemah Valley and then leaving the PCT for Pete Lake.  The Escondido Lakes area is about 25 PCT trail miles north of Snoqualmie Pass.

We began hitting snow around 4500 feet (north-ish aspect).  The snow was mostly patchy on the climb up, but did occasionally block the trail.  Sometimes up to 5 feet thick, but soft enough to climb up on and then posthole through.  Topping out, the snow became more like a snowfield at times and some route finding was necessary, though easy.  There were only two spots where I couldn't locate the trail immediately, and in these cases it took me about 2 minutes to locate the trail.  I wouldn't take horses up there now, but hikers with a little experience and persistance will be fine.

I'd say that starting south from Manning in a couple of weeks should be fine.  Starting now might be a little difficult, but if I got two greenhorns through (tired, though), hikers with experience should be fine.

Suge

---------------------------
Christopher Willett
cwillett@pierce.ctc.edu
www.pierce.ctc.edu/faculty/cwillett
Pierce College
9401 Farwest Drive SW.
Lakewood, WA. 98498-1999