About a mile up the trail, the day had cleared completely, the sun was out, and the views started - here toward the Red Buttes Wilderness and the Siskiyou Crest.
By 3,500', the snow had gotten deeper (6-12"),
and there were some struggles.
But our objective - the old LO atop Acorn Woman Peak (arrow) - came into view to offer encouragement, so we pressed on.
At about mile three, the trail passes through a forest,
and the sun was just warm enough to loosen the wads of snow that had accumulated in the trees - forcing us to dodge (not always successfully) mini snow storms as we hiked along.
After 4 miles, we reached the upper TH of the Little Grayback trail where it disgorges on to a forest road, which is the what you follow to get to the LO.
We hadn't brought snowshoes because the trail is a little too narrow for them and, up to this point, the snow hadn't been deep enough (except in a few spots) to justify carrying them. The road to the LO was another matter - 12 to 24 inches of fresh powder over a deep crusty - but breakable - base. Not exactly postholing but darn close to it. So we slogged on, feeling those excess calories dwindling with every step. The road runs downhill for a bit,
passes a locked gate, and then starts climbing for the longest 0.75 miles we've done lately. Slog, slog, slog...
But then, just as our hearts were being gripped by despair, there it was - our goal, the LO -
where we were able to avail ourselves of the deluxe relaxation facilities,
and chew on a cold lunch. There's a met station on the summit (Acorn Woman Peak met data), so we knew exactly how cold this lunch was. Air temp 29F, wind 12 mph. On December 3rd, the station recorded a wind speed of 107 mph!
We found out from just peachy that the USFS may make the LO available for rental in 2016. Let's hope they do because in summer it seems like it would a great place to spend the weekend.
We had big views E toward Mt. McLoughlin and Wagner Butte,
and W toward Grayback Mtn (G) and Big Sugarloaf Peak (S).
We had just gagged down the last of our slightly frozen sandwiches when clouds ahead of the next storm starting rolling in, signaling that it was time to descend. So off we went, with Acorn Woman Lakes below,
down the road,
and back to the trail.
We'd gotten a late start and slogging had consumed a lot of time, so for the first time in a long time we were racing darkness (and valley fog) back to the TH,
which we managed to reach without having to pull out our headlamps!
This hike (11 mi RT, 1800' EG) - which is fun summer or winter - was a lot of work on this particular occassion. But with those Christmas calories now gone, we can start eating again! Win, win!
