My first plan was to head up to Sunrise. I got a late start however, and came upon a linup of about 50 cars waiting to go through the entrance booth! I turned around and headed up to Chinook Pass instead. My thought was to hike around Naches peak, but it was completely socked in with snow, so the three miles could have been treacherous and slow. I ended up still hiking about two miles, essentially circling Tipsoo lake on the hillsides, all in snow. The temperature was perfect, for my shorts and T-shirt. I made good use of some new gaiters, and could not have gotten by without some ski poles generously given to me by Jeannie and Ben! I'm discovering that snow travel isn't bad at all, when you have the right gear! This day the snow was just the right consistency, my feet sunk in just enough to get a good grip.



Here's a few shots of the scenic road up to the pass. In the distance, you can clearly see the road up to Sunrise, and Sunrise point. With a stronger zoom, I'm sure I could have gotten the people gathered on the edge! As you can see, Tipsoo lake is just barely starting to peek out from it's cover of snow, and there's no shortage of the white stuff on the north side of Naches Peak.