Hey Rob how are you going to do it from the Wash Creek side?  Straight down the canyon?  I'd imagine there's an abandoned road at the bottom.

The way Rob & Kirk went from 4540 along the ridge is the most direct/shortest distance. Didn't said it was easy. Getting there from Skookum is a very long endeavor, especially if one stayed on the roads. Getting to Surprise Lake from Wash Creek is futile. There's just no easy way to get there. 

Robert Koscik said
Hey Rob how are you going to do it from the Wash Creek side?  Straight down the canyon?  I'd imagine there's an abandoned road at the bottom.

Well, I was thinking (not thinking, really) - if we could find Cold Springs down to Wash Creek, we could head up Wash Creek, but that looks almost as tough/long as any other route.....  But if we could find the Cold Springs route, we could get down to the confluence pretty easily - that would be cool.

Surprise Lake just doesn't want to be explored easily.  It makes you work for it.

It's tough once you get to clearcuts...some are too thick to even get through.  

You can always take a compass or gps heading and run with it.  One hell of 1/2 mile...

We found a way to surprise lake via Skookum Lake.  Drop Down to the road go to the right find a tree with an upside down exclamation point and look for orange flags marking the way.  It is rough going someone needs to clear the path but it can be done. A man named Paul and a couple people doing geocache have set up trails and hike it often