Nine hikers were eager to head to Morte Lake in the rain.  As we made our way along the classic Morte Lake approach trail, the rain turned to sleet and then to variable snow.  We enjoyed the unusual view from the east beach of Morte Lake with snow falling.  We then went up the switchback trail on the north side of the lake toward the open bluffs, but decided to shorten the trip.  So we turned around and went back to the Lake.  On the return we crossed over to Lower Deadfish and on to the parking lot.  A number of us learned something about the limitations of our rain gear. (7.4 km, 2¼ hours, 180m elevation gain)