Silver Lake AF Canyon. Third attempt at Silver Lake. First time up this winter I didn't have snowshoes and no one had been on the trail past Silver Lake Flat so I scrapped it. Second time I got a late start and halfway up ran out of sunlight and had to turn back. Today, however, I got it.
Started at Tibblefork, up the snow packed road to Silver Lake Flat (<3.5 mi).  Warm day, ended up in sleaveless shirt and shorts and was still warm. At the trailhead to Silver Lake I noticed no fresh tracks but a faint packed trail still visible. First mile, no problems other than punching through occasionally, dropping past my knees into the soft snow.
After a mile the trail faided to one faint snowshoe track barely visible heading up, straight up the ridge rather than following the main trail just visible off to the east. This is where the fun started. Hiking in only shorts and my Brooks Cascadias (meaning I should have had snowshoes, boots, pants and or gaiters) I headed up the ridge, more swimming than hiking, as the snow was often well past waist deep. It was difficult to stay on top and punching though every few steps meant digging oneself out and on four different occasions I lost my shoe struggling to get out and had to dig down several feet to retrieve it.  The absurdity of the situation did not escape me. I had failed on two previous attempts to get to the lake and was determined to get there today, besides my belief on two separate occasions that I only needed to get over the next ridge to find it.
After climbing a third steep section straight up the ridge line in waist deep snow, I made it to Silver Lake-spectacular views!  The sun had just dipped below the ridge and it immediately started getting cold. One positive thought though was that at least it would be easier going down as
I had already created the post-holes--nope! As the snow began to freeze the sharp edges of the deep holes created on the way up (you guessed it--and have probably been there) cut into my ankles, shins and even as high as my knees and thighs cutting the already tender skin raw from the hike up. As my legs would crash through and against the frozen sides, I began to leave a visible and obvious trail of blood in each hole, often sending splattered blood trails along the sides and on top of the snow.   By the time I reached the bottom, each step breaking through the crust sent incredibly sharp pains into my shins. The edges of the snow by this time felt more like glass cutting into me rather than the soft snow I experienced on the way up.
I lost my shoe twice more heading down deep in the snow and had to dig it back out, emptying it each time and putting the stupid thing back on my frozen foot. For a stretch there, I began to think I might be in one of those "I shouldn't have survived," shows-- I was just waiting for a random blizzard to roll in.
Anyway, eventually made it down back to Silver Lake Flat and slowly began a run, picking up the pace, and eventually warming up the last three miles before getting back safely to my truck just before dark.
What an adventure and an incredibly stupid thing. Loved every minute of it...not so much the bleeding all over the snow part but the rest was great.
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