Saw
this nice report on the Tamanawas Falls trail conditions (packed snowshoe track), so took the opportunity to head up there yesterday. Based on the earlier report, I left my snowshoes in the car and went with just boot traction -- and that turned out to be the best way to travel, even with a few inches of snow that had come down since the first report. There were about 20 cars at the trailhead, which is 20 more than there used to be not all that long ago on a winter weekend, but the bonus was nice, walkable snowshoe track all the way to the falls. There was less snowpack than I imagined -- 2 or 3 feet -- which made the sections through the alder thickets a bit easier to navigate. The rockslide section was also very manageable, though my take is to go right at a fork in the snowshoe track in the middle of the talus slope and work your way up to the actual trail -- the left fork requires a slick climb up a slope just inside the tree line that was giving snowshoers trouble.
Some photos from the trip...
Cold Spring Creek looking lovely in snow:
Pano from the middle of the big talus slope -- the better route is the upper one, on the left in this photo:
Sun on the cliffs above the big talus slope:
Tamanawas Falls looking very nice, indeed:
Took a bit of a slide on my back while trying to climb up the slope next to the falls... and snapped a tripod leg! Doh!
Some old guy and his semi-functional tripod...
One last stop on the bridge over the East Fork Hood River as dusk approached....
A beautiful day for a snow hike!
Tom
