Imagine my surprise, during the last 2 miles approaching the trailhead, to find a layer of fog blowing through the trees, coating everything in icy white.
At the trailhead it was 25 F at 10:30 am. There was about half an inch of snow, mixed with ice and frost. And a brutally cold wind.
When I reached the first opening on the side of bald mountain, I could see the fog pouring down the side of the ridge. A cold north wind was whipping fog up over the ridge and down the south side. I took some video, but couldn't figure out how to link it here.
The normally spectacular view of Mt. Hood was obscured by the fog, only showing intermittently.
A rare clear view of the trail.
The fog coated trees and shrubs in fantastic suits of white.
The tree branches in the woods were only coated on the windward side:
sun beams in the forest, a ray of hope.
Just after this picture, in the span of about 20 paces, the temperature raised 15 degrees and the wind stopped. I stepped out into the second viewpoint to calm, blue skies. It was so warm I had to start peeling off layers. My thermometer said it was 60 degrees!
View up to McNeil pt and beyond:
The caves on Sandy glacier are easy to see:
From here, the trip was a lot more pleasant due to the significantly warmer temperatures. I took the steep scramble up to the shelter. In the clearings at the base of the scramble there was maybe 8 inches of snow, but it was pretty hard packed and easy to walk through. Up on the scramble it looked like this:
Near the top of the scramble, the height allowed me to see where I'd been. A huge bank of fog extended towards the gorge, held back by the Bald mountain ridge. You can see where it was pouring over the ridge and down the other side. The trail on the side of Bald mountain passes right through that.
McNeil shelter, picturesque as always:
Photo looking up to Hood from the shelter:
Closeup of the caves:
I hiked up the ridge above the shelter a little bit. I thought I would try going up a little way, and then down the other side of the ridge back towards the regular McNeil Pt trail. As I hiked up the ridge, I could see some tracks across the snowfield I needed to get to. I figured these followed the regular trail, or at least would take me to it. I couldn't get to them directly, because the slope was too steep and was in the shade, so was still iced up. I decided to go up to the local peak, and down the other side of the bowl. It was a little dicey because the snow up there was pretty hard and icy, but by staying on rocky areas I was able to keep my footing.
The view of Barrett Spur from the high point of my trek:
And the other direction:
As I worked my way down the other side of the bowl and approached the tracks I realized they were deer tracks and not the trail at all! From here, I just continued down towards where I thought the trail was. Apparently no one had been up on the trail in the last couple of days, because I couldn't find any tracks. The snow here was about a foot deep and a little harder going, but not too bad. I made it back to the Timberline trail, which was much easier to follow.
The ponds:
It was starting to get late, so I boogied down the trail. I took one last set of pictures of Hood, before descending into the fog. If you look carefully you can see the shelter in this picture.
I kind of dreaded re-entering the icy fog. Once again, the temps plummeted and the wind picked up in just a short distance down the trail.
By now the sun was setting, and the pink sun shinning through the fog gave the forest an eerie glow:
At the last viewpoint on Bald Mt. I had my last glimpses of Hood through the fog bathed in pink.
What a great day on Mt. Hood!
