You've got a great idea. You want to go to that one lake that was so great in the summer. It was a pretty mellow hike to get there and it was just gorgeous. How hard could it be to get there in the winter?
<sigh>
Start your adventure the night before. Check the weather forecast. Check the avalanche forecast. Load your pack. Make sure everything's ready to go. Set the alarm. No, set the alarms. As in many, many of them. (Some of us aren't really morning people.)
Oh, joy. It's early. It's dark. Thank goodness for headlamps. It's still really dark. It's one thing to climb under a full moon on the open slopes of a volcano, but in the heavy timber it's just a slog. No matter! It'll be light soon.
Now that it's light you can see just how much farther you have to go. Deep snow everywhere except where you really want it. Seriously, how hard would it have been to cover the creek and the boulders? Instead, just a few inches of snow making every step treacherous. Up the headwall and the snow is deeper and drier. The snowshoes you've been carrying up until now are finally useful for the last half mile to the lake.
Ah yes, the lake. Sure, it looks just like a big white field, but then you realize, Oh, hey, it's a frozen lake! I swim here in the summer! The snow is pristine except for the ripples created by the cold wind that blows across the lake. It's so peaceful and quiet you can hear a cricket fart in China. (FYI: That's really quiet.)
So now you've experienced what few others have: A Wilderness lake locked in the snows of winter. Was it worth it? Absolutely. The peace and tranquility is unmatched in our hectic lives. Your muscles will ache, but you'll do it again, won't you? And then it starts to snow with big, lazy flakes filling in your tracks.
