By Bianca Klar

On April 18th, beautiful Sunday, the 5 of us decided to take advantage of a still solid snow pack in the mountains. We (Bob Y, Fiona C, Dayna S, Howard S, and Bianca K,) proceeded on a three lake tour; Summit, Martin, and Booth lake loop. When we started at 9:20 am from Santiam snow park the temp was already slightly above freezing. As the snow was beginning to soften up we had a decent grip ascending via Skyline trail to the ledge at the West side of the crater. By the time we got to the top of PCT, snow was soft but not sticky. After enjoying beautiful views we tackled the hardest part of the trip, finding a survivable way to Summit lake. It was not for the faint of heart, to put it lightly, and we managed:-). The snow melt seems to be more consequential on a steep slopes, making them steeper. There was lots of debris in the trees and the tree wells were deep.

Once we descended to the Summit lake we enjoyed well earned lunch and the downhill reprieve. We could see turquoise water under the snow on Martin lake and Booth lake. We linger around unnamed, lovely turquoise lake partially melted and took our time going back with many beautiful views of the Cascades jewels.