MT. BAKER-SNOQUALMIE NATIONAL FOREST, WA :: Pat and Cheri had reserved a spacious cabin near the town of Glacier for a wintery getaway in the mountains. Matt, Becky, Kristie and I joined them for a weekend of fireside chats, video games, cheesy movies and a fun snowshoe adventure atop Mt. Baker.

After our first night in the cabin, we woke up early to pack ourselves, our snowshoeing gear and a sled into the least reliable car (mine), trusting the most wreckless driver (myself) to drive up the icy, curvy roads to Mt. Baker. Our greatest risk wasn't the threat of avalanches, post-holing, frostbite, or hypothermia - it was just getting to the trailhead safely!

The official White Salmon trailhead only had two parking spots, both of which were taken. So we continued driving up to a ski area where we had a pretty good hunch a snowcat road would meet up with the trail. After we confirmed this with a ranger and a snowcat driver in the ski lodge, we were strapping on our snowshoes.

The view from this ridge-top trail was partially obscured today by circulating clouds that occasionally dropped some new snow on us. Between the cloud breaks, we got glimpses of Goat Mountain and Mt. Shuksan. The snow was fresh and deep, blanketing the landscape and trees to create a perfect winter wonderland. It gave us all that wonderful feeling of being like a kid, playing in snow again for the very first time!