Olallie Lake (winter)

12/21/15. We were scheduled to scramble up the East peak of Snoqualmie via Commonwealth Basin and Cave Ridge, but the avalanche conditions were "considerable" as were the risks that the highway over Snoqualmie Pass would be closed by the forecasted winter storm. Playing it safe, we opted to head to Olallie Lake instead. The snow was deep and fluffy, and it snowed hard all day. We were able to follow old tracks to the junction where the trail to Olallie and Talapus lakes turns off of the Pratt Lake trail, but then had to break trail the rest of the way to the lake. The going was slow as we often were sinking to our hips, but we made it to the lake, where it was too cold and too snowy to enjoy our "summit treat" or to take a "summit photo". We returned to the cars at about 3:30 where we ate our summit treat (a pan of homemade brownies) and took our summit photo. We got out onto the highway minutes before they shut the highway to all traffic due to icy conditions. It snowed hard all day on the trail and it snowed hard all the way to North Bend on the way home. Everyone had a wonderful time and we avoided getting hit by avalanches. What more could we ask for?