Mileage: 7.4/ EG 2,263 The day donned to opt outside.. by REI that is. I didn't need an excuse to go outside, but took advantage of the time nonetheless. My friend Caitlin and I had wanted to go to Colchuck lake to see the snow covered beauty, but a trail report a few days prior showed the road going up to it closed already. After that we thought about going to Artist Point to snowshow, but didn't want to drive so far. The first avalanche reports of the season came out the night before and the entire state was orange: which meant considerable. This meant that many hikes would be considered somewhat not safe with the conditions. Mt. Dickerman, which we were thinking of doing, was one of these. We opted for Beckler Peak as the conditions looked more safe. This was all decided at 10PM the night before. Gotta love winter hiking.
A side note about avalanches.. I knew absolutely nothing before going to an avalanche awareness class, which I recommend to anyone getting into winter hiking/ snowshoeing. The conditions can change fast day-to-day so it is important to check the reports to see where is safe to hike. Avalanches take many lives each year here in the PNW, so it is something to take very seriously. I would love to get my AIARE certification sometime.
The road leading up to the trailhead was in really good shape, for a change. We started hiking at 10 and saw a group already coming down, thanks for breaking trail for us! We brought our snowshoes with not sure if we would need them, but the boot path was compact enough to not need them. The hike was a good, consistent climb the whole time. Blue skies even peeked out above the white snow which was a beautiful contrast. The end was a hard climb to the very top. There was lots of snow at the top (probably 3 feet or so). The top gave views of snow topped peaks for as far as the eye could see. I have never felt snow was so beautiful as I have here in Washington. We sat up there for a long time with our ramen and hot cocoa. The trek down was fast and we were back to the car in no time.
