Near the end of December right before the more snow blanketed the hills, I went for a hike in the upper grasslands near McQueen Lake.   The route went into the forest on the edge of the McQueen Lake property, then around the end of Clay Lake, then looped through the forest and back through the grasslands.    I had hiked in the area another time not long before so both routes are shown here.

Clay Lake was frozen and topped with a layer of snow.

It was quiet in the area and there were very few footprints, except for deer tracks crossing my route.   Since I knew the area well, i visited 3 different homesteads, now abandoned for over 100 years.    I chose to include a route past an upland pond, a grove of mature Douglas fir trees, and some tall trees on the edge of the grasslands.   Some photos from that hike are shared here in a Google Photos album.    A link is provided here with captions added for each photo – Clay Lake on the Snow.

Also shared here are the photos in a slideshow:

This will be a spot to snowshoe once there is enough snow, usually in February.