{"id":1499,"date":"2010-12-31T16:31:49","date_gmt":"2011-01-01T00:31:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wanderjunkie.com\/?p=1499"},"modified":"2012-05-24T19:18:55","modified_gmt":"2012-05-25T03:18:55","slug":"pratt-mountain-december-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wanderjunkie.com\/?p=1499","title":{"rendered":"Pratt Mountain, December 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pratt\u00c2\u00a0Mountain<\/strong> (snowshoe)
\nDate:<\/strong> December 30, 2010
\nDifficulty:<\/strong> 7 out of 10
\nDistance:<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a09.5\u00c2\u00a0miles roundtrip
\nElevation Gain:<\/strong> 3,200′
\nTime:<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a06 to 8\u00c2\u00a0hours
\nLocation:<\/strong> I-90 Exit 47, Washington
\nUsers Group:<\/strong> Hikers & Dogs Only
\nPermits:<\/strong> Northwest Forest Pass Required
\nHiking with:<\/strong> Lance Leasure<\/p>\n

With all the snow in the mountains, there are only a few small trails out there without any snow and those trails don’t have much elevation gain or view.\u00c2\u00a0 So, if you want to hike\u00c2\u00a0a\u00c2\u00a0respectable trail, you will need snowshoes.\u00c2\u00a0 I wanted to get in one more hike before my holiday was\u00c2\u00a0depleted and had the yearning to snowshoe Pratt Mountain.\u00c2\u00a0 I picked up\u00c2\u00a0my\u00c2\u00a0friend Lance Leasure and we stopped at Starbucks on\u00c2\u00a0before heading to the Pratt Trailhead at Exit 47.<\/p>\n

It was a beautiful sunny day, but very cold for the Puget Sound area, it was a chilly 27 degrees starting off. \u00c2\u00a0The parking lot was filled with snow, but…luckily there was a small area plowed for parking.\u00c2\u00a0 We put on our gators, but decided to put the snowshoes on when we really needed them.\u00c2\u00a0 The trail started off with 4 to 6 inches of powdered snow and slowly got deeper (http:\/\/bit.ly\/eC9un0<\/a>). \u00c2\u00a0About 2 1\/2 miles on the Pratt Lake trail we decided it was time for the snowshoes.\u00c2\u00a0 Even with snowshoes, we were still sinking down over 2 feet.\u00c2\u00a0 Running out of time, we turned back approximately 3.1 miles from the trailhead ( right before the view point of Olallie Lake).\u00c2\u00a0 Even though we didn’t summit Pratt, there will be plenty of snow this season to attempt it again in snowshoes for the next 4 months.<\/p>\n\n\t\t