Basic Snowshoe - Hyak Lake

Snow was soft and fluffy but heavy. Good snowman snow. The trail markers on the trees were helpful but you had to know where to look to get started on the snowshoe trail. I had a GPS track to help us find it. We left the parking area net to Silver Fir lodge and cut through the trees then joined the cat track a short distance until crossing Hyak Creek. Just across the creek on the right are the small yellow circle and blue diamond tree markers for the snowshoe trail. It was not well traveled so we rotated breaking trial along side a set of Nordic ski tracks. The trial to the lake is a gentle but steady gain of 650 feet with a few short steep sections. At one point the trail crosses a cat track of the Nordic ski area. Cross cautiously with skiers coming downhill. It was not obvious where the trail was on the other side and again the GPS track helped confirm where to go. We took a lunch break at Hyak Lake and broke trail around the lake and headed back down. The total mileage was 3.25 miles and it took us about 3 hours