Starting your hike from Bear Lake, you can easily take advantage of so many wonderful destinations. On January 25, I decided that I wanted to make my way towards Lake Haiyaha. This is a beautiful lake characterized by the very large boulders surrounding it. In fact, "haiyaha" is thought to be an Indian word meaning "big rocks." Having only been to the lake in the summer, finding the deeply snow-covered trail was much easier said than done.

I started at Bear Lake in the midst of a very pleasant morning. It wasn't too cold and not as windy as it had been the past few days. I made my way up the winter trail to Nymph Lake, and took a few minutes to soak in the scenery and snap a few pictures. The wind had picked up a bit, so it was not a hard decision to get back on the trail, keep the blood pumping, and stay warm.

On the trail, just above Nymph Lake, the sun began an attempt to fend off the the thickening clouds and blowing snow. This made for some very beautiful shots, and made the snowshoeing even more enjoyable.

As I turned the corner towards Dream Lake, the wind became more like the usual winter winds in the park. I strapped on some goggles and started to head south towards Lake Haiyaha.

The beginning of the trail was pretty icy, and I was accepting the help of the trees alongside the trail lending their hands for a little support. The trail levels out and the thick forest helps to keep the wind at bay. Normally, there are wonderful views on this trail, but because of the low clouds and the strong winds, they were very limited.

Having only been to Lake Haiyaha during the summer, and with all of the snow on the ground, there was a point where the trail disappeared. I managed to get pretty far by memory, but then everything began to seem very unfamiliar. The wind picked up some more, and it began to snow a little. I walked about a 1/4 of a mile to the north, towards the lake, but never found the trail again. Unsure about what the weather had planned, I decided to head back towards Bear lake.

Even though I didn't make it to Haiyaha, it was still an incredible hike. From Dream Lake on, I was making fresh tracks in the snow. It was a beautiful day, and the snow was incredible. In my opinion, snowshoeing can't get too much better than that.