Trip Report

Lake Serene & Philadelphia Mtn

Great snowshoe trip or winter scramble with some nice views along the way.

Susan Shih

January 27, 2019

Date: Thu, Jan 17, 2019
Route/Place: Lake Serene
Activity Type: Scrambling
Trip Result: Successful
Rating:

Road Conditions: Road suitable for all vehicles
Route Conditions:
No problems getting to the Lake Serene TH. NW Forest Parking Pass required. Toilets are closed.

Trip Report

This activity was on 1/16/19. Andy, Randy, Laura and I arrived at the trailhead around 7:45am. No one else there nor did we see anyone for the entire trip. Quite extraordinary for Lake Serene.

The hike to Lake Serene was pleasant. The stump that looks like it's going to shoot down the hill is still there. Most of us put on Microspikes when we came out of the trees as there was quite a bit of hard ice on the trail. Views of the Mt Index peaks were as beautiful as always.Looking back at the many Monte Cristo Peaks.

We made a very short detour to take a quick look at Lake Serene.Then retraced our few steps back to where a toilet and Lake Serene sign were posted. From there we headed up the ridge going SE while paralleling the lake. There were some beautiful views of the Index Peaks and the lake below as we continued up. We can now see Lunch Rock too, a place many like to stop for lunch on a nice day.Around 3000' we put on our snowshoes. The snow is perfect for it. Consolidated enough so we don't sink, but soft enough for our snowshoes claws to grip really well. No sliding around. It gets steep in a few areas so glad to have such excellent conditions.

I stop taking photos as we start moving east, away from the lake and our only views are the trees around us. As we continue further east, we again start getting a few views to our north. We can see Heybrook Ridge with the lookout below.After continuing over the small ups and downs on this ridge, we finally see our tree covered Philadelphia Mtn.It's just a large flat area up there with basically no views. It's breezy so we only spend a couple minutes there.We head down, looking for a place protected from the breeze with some views to have lunch. It's right here.Then back down we go. Near Lake Serene again.