June 7, 2009, Mt. Watson sucker-hole

Spent Saturday night at Baker Lake for a 6:30 start Sunday. The Forest Service road report was correct, we drove to 1.5 miles of the trailhead at 3700'. The road to the trailhead was mostly skinable with 2' at the trailhead. We followed numerous snowmachine tracks up to the pass above Watson Lakes, mostly through the fog but no rain. The decent to the lakes is reasonable skiing if you take the avy debris skier right. The edges of the lakes were starting to melt out. We noticed numerous snow machine tracks on the lakes from days past... I think this is a big no-no being that the lakes are in the Wilderness Area. While we were making our way around the north side of the lakes the cloud deck lifted and few openings allowed us view to the summit. After a break at treeline for lunch we summited about 1:00 still with good vis. Snow was a bit damp and sticky on the decent but not mushy. We opted to boot up from the lakes as the conditions in the forest were very cupped and sticky with lots of lichens. The ski out the road was slow due to sticky snow... we opted to "ski" out in walk mode. A bit more carrying on the road out. Soon you will be able to drive to the final turnoff for the trailhead. All and all a great day considering the expectations, the scenery and terrain are incredible even without the seeping views! 

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