Surprise Lake

Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014
Our party of three left the TH on headlamps at 7:00 AM. The day was overcast with a few sun breaks, temp around freezing, slight precip and no wind. There was little snow on the ground below 3000', and we were able to follow the Surprise Creek trail all the way to the lake. We encountered frozen slush on the trail after the previous week's rains, and our Microspikes came in handy. We finally donned our snowshoes to cross Surprise creek on snow-covered boulders just below the lake, then climbed 400' above the lake to retrieve two Conservation NW wildlife cameras. Headed down after lounging for an hour on the ridge. Five hours up to 4900', 3.5 hours down; back to TH by 4:30 PM.