Even though she had already been out once this season Michelle agreed to go again. I wasn't too sure of a destination, but noticed a lake on the road to the Lake Lillian trailhead that seemed like a pretty easy trip. It was only four miles round trip and about 1,000 feet of gain. Cake.

We left the house late at about 8:15pm. The sky was completely clear and the moon was only a few days from being full. It was shaping up to be a good night.

Unfortunately, that lasted only until we reached the end of the plowed road. The plow had stopped fully a mile short of where I had expected it to. No problem. We can tack on a couple of extra miles. It was flat, after all.

Following the tradition of the season a truck pulled up as we were getting ready. It looked like it was going to try to jump the berm and continue on (why didn't I think of that?), but wisely chose to remain functional (oh, that's why) and turned around. A young guy got out and asked about the "state park" where something was happening. I pointed him back to Gold Creek thinking maybe that's what he was looking for. Dunno.

As we climbed over the berm I realized there was yet another issue. This wasn't to be a snowshoe along a snowy road, but rather a walk along a groomed snowmobile trail. It was freshly groomed and we probably didn't need snowshoes, but Michelle had her new pair on (Merry Christmas!) so we kept them on anyway.

The experience went from dead silent except for the swishing of our snowshoes to insanely loud as trucks thundered down I-90 just a few feet away. I kept Tokul on leash for longer than usual in order to prevent my heart from stopping as she'd look at the freeway.

Where Rocky Run crosses under the road on its journey from Lake Lillian at 4,783 feet to Keechelus Lake at 2,520 there was a beautiful little shelf-style waterfall. I grabbed my tripod and... oh... dang. Where's the clip? The part that screws into the camera? ARGH! In the end I had to build a little pedestal out of snow and perch the camera on top with my glove insulating it. Not ideal.

As we started climbing (about where I thought the road would be plowed to) I heard the distinctive roar of snowmobiles hurtling down the road. We jumped to the side and they buzzed past leaving a cloud of noxious fumes in their wake. So much for guessing they'd be off the trail by this time of night.

A little while later, still climbing, they buzzed by us going back up. It turns out the road we were on is part of a major snowmobile highway between Gold Creek and Price Creek sno-parks. (At least, I think that's the case.) Happily, we didn't see or hear from them again. We also could no longer hear the freeway below us.

It took just over an hour to arrive at Resort Creek Pond. It was really small, much smaller than I'd have figured based on the map. The snowmobilers had driven across the lake a couple of times and there was a dark spot where some water might have welled up. (Michelle was disappointed there wasn't a huge hole in the ice with smoke-filled bubbles floating around.)

We took a peek and decided to go over to the next ridge. The views there were... ok. I guess. Nothing too special. We cut back to catch a road up to a high point overlooking the freeway (and snowsheds) and hopefully a good view to the south. Unfortunately, the way was closed because it's where the DOT sets off their avalanche control explosives. Fortunatley, we saw the signs while we were briefly on the road. (Not that they did any explosions that night.)

We returned to the Pond and had snacks. Tokul harassed Michelle endlessly and reminded me I needed to bring her (and me) something better to sit on than a cold plastic shovel. It's amazing how quickly hot cocoa becomes just cocoa and then becomes iced cocoa in the cold of night.

We didn't linger too long because we had gotten such a late start. The trip down was pretty uneventful. I had hoped to glissade a bit, but the slope wasn't steep enough. Probably the coolest part was a cut switchback through some trees where the smooth snow was marred only by snow bomb craters.

Total distance was about six miles. Gain was only 900 feet.