We started at Surprise Creek TH next to a train track and power lines, a short jaunt from Hwy-2. First car today.
~8am. ~24°F.
No snow for the first 1/4 mile. Then, we put spikes on. The trail follows Surprise Creek south, and cross it ~1 mile in.
Another mile or so later, the trail goes slightly uphill, above the creek.
Trail is packed down. All in the shade, chilly.
~10:25, about 4 miles and 2300' later, we reached Surprise Lake.
The last hour, the trail wasn't clear to follow. Quite a few zigzags to gain the elevation. More rocks, better view.
Put on snowshoes. Crossed the creek and up a few feet to the lake.
The lake is prestine. Very pretty, with cute snow "sculptures" over rocks around the edges. Mountains to east and west.
Now at the west side of the lake, followed some track up the ridge, while not really staying on the ridge.
There's a bend to avoid a cliff-out. The track was clear and easy to follow here. Otherwise, would be some route-finding.
Leading to the little Spark Plug Lake after the trees is obvious. It's just a pond.
Walk over the pond, and heading up to Spark Plug Lake. This is a very pretty lake.
From here, scramble up the hill. This is maybe the steepest section of today. But fairly safe, in the trees.
The top ledge is narrow, we had to route to its left side instead of tackling each of the top rocks.
Again, follow the track. The last bit needs a bit of care.
The top is small. One guy (Chris) already here. His water bottle slid down, and he tried to go down to fetch it twice.
Gave up.
Calm, sunny, quiet. No one else in sight. 360° view.
Chris was heading up to Spark Plug Mountain. I had an appointment this evening. We turned around at 1:20pm.
Cutting some corners going down. Switched to spikes south of Surprise Lake. I took them off, and slipped on icy trail twice.
Mostly in shade once we left little Spark Plug Lake.
Got to the trail head ~4:40pm. Sun was still lighting up the hills and the power cables.
~50 min delay through Gold Bar.
Got dropped off on Mercer ~7:15pm.
Total ~10.5 miles, 4170' EG. A fabulous day.
