May 3, 2018
“WARNING: DEEP SNOW ON UPPER TRAILS” is the first sign I saw when we drove into Bunzten lake’s first gates. At first I snickered at the sign and commented that it would only be a centimeter-- that joke would later come back to haunt me.
So life was great going up to Polytrichum Lookout. No signs of snow, sun behind the mountains, and nice cold mountain air flowing down the slopes. At a creek crossing near the lookout the first traces of snow appeared in small patches, nothing troublesome. Not long after we had gaiters and crampons on to face the higher levels of snow. The El Paso Junction was the first real sign as to the accumulation of snow. With the amount that gathered along the creek banks it appears no one made the crossing to the viewpoints but rather took the lower lake loop.
The markings up to this junction were fantastic, but somewhere after this point we relied on following footprints. Blindly following tracks is not recommended, you never know where you will end up and it can lead you to dangerous situations. Do not do it! (Even though we did, and it somehow worked out okay) The next glimpse at snow depth occurred near Robin Lake (maybe Siskin Lake, who knows really). Snow piling up to 4-5 meters lined the shore, cut by the flowing water. It was beautiful to look at, but also mildly concerning. Nonetheless, we walked on. We really don’t know which lakes we actually saw aside from Demelza and Robin. It was just assumed that any wide clearing with a dip was a lake, and the signs were nowhere near eye level anymore!
We made a few detours to get a glimpse of a view, but sadly there was no such luck. Also my hiking companion today lost their microspikes on the trail somewhere…. Just one foot….
Deciding it safe not to push our luck pas the lake, we returned the way we came. I'm quite content to tick this hike off the 103 hikes book!
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