One of the best areas for snowshoeing in the area is from trailheads at Lodgepole Lake.    The lake is higher (4600 feet) than nearby Lac le Jeune and it is on the border of backcountry forests on the flanks of Chuwhels Mountain.  to get to Lodgepole Lake, we turn off the Lac le Jeune Road near Stake Lake and follow the Chuwhels Forest Service Road to Lodgepole Lake.     The road is kept plowed all winter, but it may not yet be in good shape right after a snowfall.     For much of the winter, though, we can easily drive up to the parking area next to the Lodgepole Lake Recreation Site (campground).     There is lots of parking there.     The Chuwhels Mountain Road is not plowed in winter, but there may be snowmobile tracks or snowshoe tracks heading up the slopes.     The main snowshoeing trails/routes start at the campground.    Some of the trails have user-made signs and many are flagged.  Most of the routes in the area are summer-use motorcycle trails (GKMA) and forestry branch roads.   For snowshoers new to the area, the safest bet is to follow existing stomped-in trails.    Since most routes are in the forest, retrace your steps if you feel like you aren’t sure where you are.    Better yet, use a reliable GPS-enabled app on your phone to show you the trails, where you are, and a compass.    I use Maps.me and find it reliable and accurate.   There are a number of other apps for Android or Iphones.

We can also snowshoe along ponds and through cutblocks.   Trails that go north or east tend to climb and may be less-used.    Most of the stomped-in trails that can be used to make a loop route bearing west.    Lots of these are signed, but you may get to a junction that is unsigned, hence the support of a GPS-enabled mapping app.

There are some good longer routes to explore too, but you may be breaking trail and navigation will be required.  Start by doing smaller loops, then add extensions over time, adding more routes each year.    Since most of these routes are in the backcountry, take all the usual safety precautions, especially if the weather is cold.     This would not be a good area to snowshoe in fading light or in the dark.

We snowshoe the area about 6 times each winter and we are still combining trails and routes for a new loop each time.    A gallery of photos from snowshoeing the area are provided here – Lodgepole Snowshoeing (link).

A slideshow of the album is also provided below.

We hope to see you on the trails.