Our hike started at Bear Lake, with great views of the false summit of Hallet's Peak.
The trail was well packed all the way to Lake Helene, but then scattered and quickly disappeared. We walked along the edge of the lake but broke through the ice at the inlet on the north side!
The summer trail from Lake Helene to Odessa Lake had been drifted over by deep snow. The terrain was too steep for our snowshoes to safely cross, so we headed down to follow the creek bottom all the way to Odessa. It was steeper than we expected!
Cascades of ice across the valley below Tourmaline Lake.
There were occasionally cliffs that we had to navigate around, but overall it was an open route and the snow was packed enough for sliding.
Finally, Odessa Lake. The halfway point. We walked over the ice along the shore, and when we sat down to eat lunch on a log we could hear the ice rumbling and cracking!
We came out at the Fern Lake trailhead but had to walk all the way to the Cub Lake trailhead because the road is closed during winter. The Fern Lake trail was more interesting than I expected because it had partially burned a year ago, has some house-sized boulders, and ice cascades. I heard a robin calling down in the valley.
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