overnighter attempt. ICE! 1/27/17

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barryjones335
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Joined: December 3rd, 2016, 10:21 am

overnighter attempt. ICE! 1/27/17

Post by barryjones335 » January 28th, 2017, 7:59 pm

I took friday off of work and decided to try an overnighter on the pioneer indian trail this weekend. my plan was to hike to south lake friday and back to hebo lake saturday.
i set out from hebo lake at 9:30 am. The weather was absolutely amazing. i was way too hot hiking in a fleece pullover and wound up in a t shirt within the first mile. a lot of fallen debris from storms but the trail was perfectly walkable. i live close in mcminnville but had actually never been on this trail so i was blown away by how beautiful the summit was. If i had realized i was going home that same day i would have stayed up there longer. after a quick snack, some pictures, and some long deep breathes i headed on towards south lake. there were patches of 1'-1.5' deep packed snow along the trail from the last road crossing before the summit onward. none of them were consistent enough to make me turn around but made for a more interesting hike. someone had been up there possibly days before me postholing up the trail to the summit with their dog. when i left the summit i was following that persons tracks and they had lost the trail. so i had to double back away from the road crossing after the summit and find the actual trail. not too bad. from there on the snow got a bit more consistent. i made it a mile and a half or so further until i got just passed the snowy switchbacks. at that point there is a long steep slope with a cliff on one side. it was a THICK sheet of ice all the way down. i couldnt see any relief passed that so i turned around. the snow and the slopes were nothing but the ice was very intimidating. if i did make it down i didnt want to try to get back up w/o spikes. once i got back up the switchbacks and ate lunch (12:45) i felt better and had a fairly relaxed hike back to the truck. only saw one other person in a geo tracker or something on the road. roads were still full of snow and ice about 9 mi up at least btw. so if you wanna hit hebo mountain its doable via the trail but any further is still "iced in".
Attachments
IMG_20170127_111238.jpg
above the clouds on the summit area
IMG_20170127_103959.jpg
at the road crossing before the last stretch to the summit. first sign of snow

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bobcat
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Location: SW Portland

Re: overnighter attempt. ICE! 1/27/17

Post by bobcat » January 29th, 2017, 2:13 pm

I went down to South Lake once in about two feet of snow. Quite a bit of postholing but at least it wasn't icy. If you can get down there, it's a quiet spot to go in winter. Saw two big herds of elk moving through the trees.

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BigBear
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Re: overnighter attempt. ICE! 1/27/17

Post by BigBear » January 30th, 2017, 9:51 am

I'm actually surprised you did not find more snow than you did.

barryjones335
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Joined: December 3rd, 2016, 10:21 am

Re: overnighter attempt. ICE! 1/27/17

Post by barryjones335 » February 3rd, 2017, 8:34 am

Im gonna try again at the end of February maybe 1st week of march. i really want to get down there while its still somewhat snowy and challenging. ill take my brother or someone and probably bite the bullet and pack my snowshoes just in case.ill add that while there were only sparse patches all the way up, when i hit the switchbacks and ice slope there was a lot of consistent snow on the sides of the hills all of a sudden. didnt feel like getting my phone out for a pic at that point. im sure south lake was socked in. will post another report next time of course.

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ghsmith76
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Re: overnighter attempt. ICE! 1/27/17

Post by ghsmith76 » January 7th, 2018, 5:30 pm

I also live in McMinnville and am looking for a hike at about the same time you were a year ago. I think I will do the Rogue River in late Feb. or March but I am also interested in Hebo Mountain. I went up there about 10 years ago and was stopped by snow, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of snow this year. We should compare notes on trips around here, my Blog is https://adventurecontinues.org
GHSMITH76
Blog:AdventureContinues.org

barryjones335
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Joined: December 3rd, 2016, 10:21 am

Re: overnighter attempt. ICE! 1/27/17

Post by barryjones335 » February 9th, 2018, 10:59 pm

im about to go up there tomorrow and ill post a report for sure. id love to compare notes. did you end up going yet?

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