At the Crystal Lake parking area, one of the participants locked his keys in his trunk with his gear and his rider's gear in it. Fortunately for us, the ranger gave him a 'slim jim' and he got his car open within a half hour.
We began our hike at approximately 9:30 am. Due to deep snow on the north facing mountains, we started the hike climbing the fireroad to South Hawkins. After ascending South Hawkins, we continued north toward Middle Hawkins. At this time, it became very cloudy and cold. All hikers came equipped with cold weather gear. We then climbed Middle Hawkins where we ate lunch. We continued north and within 10 minutes from Middle Hawkins, we ran into deep, steep snow banks. We turned around at that point and retraced our steps, returning by the fireroad. We arrived back at the Crystal Lake parking lot at 4:30 pm.
