The sun started to poke through the clouds giving bright contrast to the landscape. Fog continued to flow through the valley below Kendal Peak. Snowshoers were enjoying the hike up the trail. (G. Thomas Bancroft)

Kendal Peak Lake Trail is a popular trail in winter and quite crowded on weekends.  I was the first to the parking lot on Friday morning and headed up the trail, which follows an old logging road through second growth spruce, fir, hemlock and cedar forests.  The snow was very crunchy this morning.  Temperatures have been rising about freezing during the day and the top of the snow had refrozen during the night.  I had a black-capped chickadee follow me along the trail for a short period; otherwise I didn’t see or hear any birds or wildlife.  The sun was peaking through the clouds and fog was moving through the valley bellow me as I hiked up the trail.  Several small groups passed me as I stopped to take pictures.  After a couple of hours I turned around to head back to the car, a place worth returning to again.