24 December, Thurs - The weather was clear for a change so we loaded up the snowshoes and headed for the hills. Noting the wind we opted for staying in the forest and turned off I-90 just beyond the Bande
ra Airstrip. There was hardly any snow on the road and we were happy to be able to drive all the way to the Talapus Lake trailhead. Even though we were fashionably late - close to noon - there were no other vehicles at the trailhead. We had the trail to ourselves all the way to the lake and most of the way back. The snowshoes weighed down our packs a bit and the ski poles were the wrong length to use effectively as trekking poles bu we figured it was better to carry them and not use 'em, than wish we had them later. According to the map we climbed only a bit over 300 feet in 2.2 miles but it certainly seemed like 1300 ft.Talapus Lake was frozen although we did not push our luck by trying to walk on it. It still made a good
"scenic lunch spot" and our Thermarest situpons worked well enough to keep our seats warm and dry. Had we gotten an earlier start we would probably have gone to Olallie, the next lake. But sunset was early this close to the equinox and we headed back to the car. Along the way we met a family whistling and calling for their two dogs. They hadn't showed up by the time we left the parking lot. Hope they found them before Christmas.(photo, left above, We entered the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area just below the lake)
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