The snow level is coming down as we get into December, so I thought that I had better not try anything with a lot of elevation gain. Heather Lake sounded good. It was a fairly easy hike of 2 miles one way and only about a thousand feet of elevation gain. This trail is in the same area as some of the other hikes that I have been on lately.

Just outside of Verlot, the road to the trailhead turned off the main highway, and it was lightly covered with snow. It was only a mile up this road to the trailhead, and it was easy going. After getting on the trail, the trees had collected the snow and little was on the ground. As I worked my way up the switchbacks, that began to change. The trees were well coated in snow , but the ground was also beginning to have some accumulation.

By the time I reached the lake, I was breaking trail in 8 to 12 inches of new snow. The lake and it's surrounds were beautiful. Yes, I was really there. I parked myself on a snow covered rock and had my brunch. I think that this may be the place my brother fell backward into a hole in a snow field when we were in Boy Scouts (perhaps after a winter's worth of snow piled up and then began to melt?) The resulting concussion, rescue, and stay in the hospital were even documented in the The Seattle Times.

The ridge behind the lake is not quite as impressive as the one behind Lake Twenty-two, but still has the rugged beauty of so many of the ridges and peaks in the North Cascades. On the way back to the car I was taken by the strange appearance of a young tree that was growing from the stump of an old giant. A tree-hugger of another sort.