The crux move of this hike was dodging the logging trucks on Hwy 140 and getting over the 6' wall of snow/ice left by the plows.
After that, however, it was a gentle, but ever steepening, cruise on untracked snow.
About 1.5 mi in, the summit came into view,
and, with 500' EG to go, the snowmobile tracks. My cruise up new untracked snow had blinded me to the fact that, while McLoughlin is in a wilderness area, Brown Mountain is not and is thus open to snowmobiles - lots of snowmobiles. Fortunately, I was climbing on a Monday but it must have been a wild (and noisey) weekend on the slopes!
What makes a particularly fun snowshoe is that after a brief trudge through the forest lower down, the views just keep getting bigger and bigger.
From the summit ridge, I had a great view N toward Pelican Butte and snowy Klamath Lake.
A short hike up the ridge brought me to the actual summit, for a full frontal view of the Mountain Lakes Wilderness to the E [H = Harriman; G = Graylock; W = Whiteface; C = Carmine; A = Aspen Butte],
Shasta to the S,
and Mt. Ashland [A] to the W, with Brown's crater in the foreground.
The numerous snowmobile tracks coming off the slightly steep part below the summit provided lots of firm stuff for my MSR snowshoes to get a grip on as I started my descent.
A little lower, and it was back in untracked snow,
for the glide,
back to the TH at Summit SnoPark. A short (5.5 mi RT, 2,300' EG) but wonderful snowshoe on a perfect - and snowmobile free - bluebird day.
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