Carl agreed to try snowshoeing, but neither he nor I expected the freezing rain that was coating the Snoqualmie Valley to also be falling 2,000 feet higher at Snoqualmie Pass. We figured that as we climbed we'd leave the freezing rain below us and get into either snow or no precipitation. Oh well.
We parked at the Gold Creek Sno-Park with only a half dozen other cars. It had taken us longer than we had expected to drive up (to say nothing of sleeping in and breakfast), but apparently the threat of bad weather had scared off many others. It was sleeting a bit as we geared up and got going.
Tokul immediately kicked off one of her boots, but once it went back on and although she pranced a bit the boots stayed on for the rest of the day. She went back and forth between the leash and freedom until we cleared most of the hikers and skiers who were only out for a short trip.
The ice storm had coated pretty much everything with about half an inch of ice, which made snowshoeing a little less fun than usual. Luckily, we were following in the tracks of a couple of people ahead of us.
After about two and a half miles were were at about 4,000 feet and at a junction. Two guys who had been breaking trail for us were struggling around a switchback, but the GPS showed that we wanted to continue straight where there was no broken trail.
Right around that point we also moved into the warm air above the cold air. The snow from way up high was falling into this layer melting and falling the rest of the way as rain before freezing on the ground. The ice that was coating all three of us melted off and we started sweating under all our gear.
We continued for another mile and around another switchback before realizing we were not likely to make it even to the lowest of the three Kendall Peak Lakes. When Dan and I had driven up with Clara and the dogs during the summer we had left the road about a quarter mile from the lake, but it didn't feel like we were in that spot. Perhaps we should have followed the trail breakers up the hill, but we were spent and decided we'd just head back.
(A quick peek at archived GPS tracks shows that although the Green Trails map indicates a trail near where we ended up Dan and I had gone up the switchback that provided easy access to the lower lake.)
Along the way back we found a couple of interesting views, but certainly not the views we would have seen on a clear day. The biggest shock was when we re-entered the cold air layer and both got quick chills. Tokul was dead tired by this time and whenever we stopped she'd curl up on the backs of our snowshoes or just in the snow. By the time we got back to the car she was barely able to jump into the trunk. When we got home she curled up in front of the fire and almost skipped dinner. Almost.
