Annette Lake hike: 12/23/14

Hike: Annette Lake

Date:12/23/14

Distance/Gain: 7.5miles, 1400 ft. of gain

Highest Point: 3600 ft

Rating: 7/10

Pros:Beautiful mountain lake, many unique features along the trail

Cons:Weather/rain inhibited some views

I decided to squeeze in another hike this week, even though last minute Christmas shopping, and the weather thought I should have taken a week off. Just like last week I took a look at the trip reports, and thought that Annette Lake looked the most appealing with its beautiful lake, and dusting of snow.

I got a relatively early start, and made the hour + drive to the trail head. The road wasn't horrible, but there were a decent amount of potholes (nothing like the Ira springs mess.) I arrived at the the trail head at 08:50, and was not alone. There were 3 other cars which surprised me for an early morning, bad weather, Tuesday hike.

 It was a WET day, raining steadily from the start. The trail starts out innocently enough, a very slight incline creek side, that takes you over an impressive bridge. The creek was roaring from all of the recent rainfall.

After the bridge, you follow the trail until it crosses iron-horse trail, at a little over a mile in. That's where I encountered the first group of hikers. They were a very friendly group, I quickly passed by and made my way towards the lake.

From there, the trail begins a long slow climb. The trail has numerous roots, large rocks, and stream crossings, so be sure to watch your step.

I was actually able to take off my rain shell for a bit. But once I reached 3000 feet, I encountered my first snow on the ground, and the rain decided to rejoin the hike.

At 3200 feet I decided it was time to put on the Microspikes. My Merrells had been doing fine until that point, but the packed snow + switchbacks made a things a lot slicker.

 The rest of the hike was relatively uneventful, After a handful of switchbacks the trail remain mostly flat until you reach the banks of Annette Lake.  The snow at the lake gets to roughly 6" deep, but the trail is packed.  I had gaiters on but likely didn't need them.

When I arrived at the lake it began to downpour. I grabbed a few pictures, and decided to head back. I made it back to the car at exactly the 3 hour mark. Overall its a beautiful hike, with a lot of little surprises along the way. This is one that I will revisit in the summer and spend some more time exploring.

*After my hike last week to Mount Dickerman where I temporarily lost the trail. I decided that I needed to add in a GPS (besides my SPOT) to assist in winter navigation.  After some research I decided to try out the app BackCountry Navigator. The app works off of your phones GPS, and downloaded maps, so you do not need cell service for this to work, as a matter of fact I was in airplane mode to save battery life.

The screenshot shows my downloaded map, the red line is the trail to Annette lake, the blue line is my "tracks" (where I have been) and the arrow is me and the direction I am facing.  This app sold me on this hike. For $11 I have a GPS tool that will assist keeping me on track on my hikes.