For as long as I have lived in the Pacific Northwest and as much as I enjoy hiking, its amazing it took me this long to strap on my first pair of snowshoes.

I went with a handful of coworkers and my son, Cohen, on what we thought would be a relatively short jaunt to Heather Lake. It turned out to be a lot longer than that.Originally our plan was to take all of us first-timers, except Jay the mountaineer, to Heather Lake. This would be a short, 4 mile round trip venture. After talking to the ranger on duty at the Verlot ranger station we found that Heather Lake didn't have much snow left and was already melting out. We were all hoping for snow and a frozen lake as a goal.

Cohen on snowshoes

Our next choice was Kelcema Lake, though this would be a much longer 10 mile round trip snowshoe. We decided to try it and headed up to the 'trailhead' which was Deer Creek road (closed to all traffic for winter).

Snacking at the lake

The snow pack didn't begin until about a mile up the road, but then it was snowshoeing all the way. The grade was easy, due to the way being a road and the going was easy. Cohen made short work out of learning how to get going.

After about 4 hours of slogging we made it to the lake itself. Unfortunately, the clouds never fully parted to reveal the full scale of the cirque in which the lake sits, but it was scenic enough.

Cohen on Kelcema Lake

After a snack on fresh cheesecake, hot-buttered rum and cocoa, we slogged it back to the truck. Cohen did an amazing job on this trek. Considering his little legs stride half as far as I do, he did an amazing job on his '15-scale' miles that he did. Next time we go I think we'll do something more in the 4-6 mile range.

The rest of my pictures are here, Jay's are here and Swee's are here.