Surprise Lake

This hike started harmlessly enough. We had been planning this one for some time and were fully equipped and headed out at about 9am. I know, a little late for the avid hiker, but you try to get Him out of bed before 7am.
We start at the trailhead and have a good pace going. About 0.7miles in, Vince sees a black bear. About 200# and 100 yards away, we were able to grab the dogs and get the gun. But no need, he ran off through the brush as gracefully as though he were skipping through a grassy meadow.
We continued up and met a man coming down at about mile 2. He noted there were no other hikers, we shared our bear story, and he passed by. We soon hit snow, and traversing through it was difficult. We lost the footprint trail a few times but were able to get to the switchbacks. Oh those tedious switchbacks. A little bit of those and we hit snow again. I almost missed the switchbacks, but stomping through 4 foot snowbanks held my attention.

After we get to the river that runs parallel to the East side of the lake and find the map. Just before the trail crosses the river, there is a breakoff of the PCT that continues NE. At that point, I started eating some homemade dehydrated fruit, and some local winged friends joined us for some apple slices.
 We weren't able to find the river crossing, but [dangerously] chose to attempt crossing over the snow. The risk was hitting a hollow snow cave, and a girl recently died from attempting a late-season snow crossing. It took alot of convincing, but finally, He agreed to try. We ended up finding more footprints and followed those to the lake.
 Mostly frozen over,  but always beautiful. The birds joined us again for ham sandwiches and snacks. One even took from my hands a few times. The attempt at drying our shoes and socks was mostly unsuccessful and I hate wet socks. So the usual half-hour break turned into an hour, in which we watched the dogs get teased by the birds. Our half-assed GPS got us down the mountain, but not after passing about 10 people on the way up. Maybe we're just slow, but it was 5pm, and they were halfway up. Even Granny was going strong, if not a little behind the Fam.
 Drive home uneventful. BLT's for dinner. Plan on return to Surprise in the late summer.

Lanham Lake

A mile or so after the crest of Steven's Pass, the trailhead noted a report: 'Hundreds of felled trees, difficult to traverse, choose another hike.' Always up for a challenge, it was decided to continue on. This was the third we'd tried to find that day and I was not going to let a bad trip report keep me from enjoying the outdoors. We followed the trail up and had to cross over a road to continue on. Shortly after reentering the woods, we came across snow. Of course I decide to take my shirt off and hike in the bra. And of course we came across a family of 5. Luckily, the kids were all in their teens, and I didn't feel so bad about possibly corrupting a small mind. The family had stopped and couldn't find the trail. We wished them well on their hike (in  sneakers no less) and continued on.
 Even with our great skills, we did lose the trail. But I like to blame the incline mixed with a huge felled tree. It was difficult to lift the dogs up. Tuck took no problem, he's a wily tree walker. But Mads was more difficult, and in the end she followed me but had to make her own way. A more obvious trail was found uphill on the other side of this giant obstacle and we were led to two tents and a smoldering fire. With no one around, it was an effort for Him to convince me not to completely douse the fire. If it's one thing I'm against it's forest fires.
 Continuing past the fire, we came across a most amazing site. Sadly, I didn't have the opportunity to take  pictures. I was too busy trying to traverse over hundreds of felled logs. Even being warned, we weren't expecting such an amazing downfall of trees. Tuck of course nimbly jumps around as Mads tried to gingerly find a path and we all cross safely. A short walk takes us to the first father-son group getting ready to fish. We pass them to try and bushwhack around the lake. We come to the lake's outlet, and he is able to cross the high logs. Mads fjords the river, which we weren't expecting since she doesn't often go into water above her chest. Tuck and I had difficulty. He crossed back over the log and held Tuck while he crossed back. I was freaking out the whole time, anticipating a 15 foot drop into a shallow-enough stream, but they crossed safely and I was able to breath- and focus on how I was going to get across. I ended up crossing a little downstream at a dam and we continued on past the second family group fishing.

 We stopped just a  little beyond them for a quick break and I brought out the strawberries and cookies. I find cookies to be a great motivator.   Moving on, we came across some snow on the banks just passed the inlet. Mads made the bad decision of going to the edge and fell in. We kept going and passed the father-son team. Hitting the trail, we headed back down. Tuck started growling at this black thing on the trail and ended up coming across His jacket, which we hadn't known had dropped off his pack.  At least it wasn't the hat. If He had lost His hat again, He would freak out. Trail back down uneventful, logs were easier to cross going down than trying to scale them on the way up.

Ham sandwiches and fritos on the way home. A great lake, but not a second-visit lake. Perhaps in a few years.