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Dog Mountain - March 3rd, 2017

Posted: March 3rd, 2017, 5:26 pm
by Don Nelsen
This was plan B for today but it still turned into a pretty good adventure due to the snow accumulation. Still, I'm sure it was a lot better than Plan A would have been - Herman Creek.

Studying the weather maps this morning told me I might just beat the rain if I got back by one or so and it worked out great - The rain was just starting as I got back to the TH at 1:50. There was a light east wind at the TH as I set out at 10:18 but it became a stronger west wind above about 1500' but never a problem.

The trail is free from all but some very minor blowdown that never posed a problem - maybe three or four very small trees and virtually no other debris but the usual fir sprigs and cones.

There were only a few scattered small patches of snow for the first mile but then it abruptly changed to continuous snow cover for the rest of the way. This trail isn't so steep, even snow covered, that spikes are needed until the junction about 2.1 miles in. From there, the grade is much more steep and I was glad to have the spikes.

As I got to the meadows, I was glad a few folks had already put some footprints down:
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Wind Mountain:
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The view of the summit area:
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There had been some melting in the exposed areas but that only lasted for a quarter mile or so.
Then it got way worse!
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All tracks disappeared at the distant bend in the trail in this photo. It was too icy for me to attempt as well and the unstable fresh snow atop fairly hard ice convinced me to just go straight up from there.
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Approaching the summit:
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All trace of the trail is under two or three feet of ice and snow:
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Epic snowdrifts all over the summit area:
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Rather than risk doing the traverse in the downhill direction, I headed to the east and picked my way down to the trail through the drifts and open meadows. The snow and ice is pretty hard and even my 185 pounds didn't punch in more than 6 inches to less than a foot so it was not too bad a descent.
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6.1 miles, 3 hours, 33 minutes, 2,833' vertical.

dn

Re: Dog Mountain - March 3rd, 2017

Posted: March 3rd, 2017, 10:12 pm
by pablo
Thx Don for the report on conditions & nice photos - I like those with the low hanging clouds. Guess I'll be leaving my snow shoes and taking the spikes tomorrow. Looks like some snow showers tomorrow.

--Paul

Re: Dog Mountain - March 3rd, 2017

Posted: March 4th, 2017, 7:55 am
by VanMarmot
Nice! So this is what it takes to beat the crowds on Dog Mountain! I'm guessing that parking wasn't a problem either? ;)

Re: Dog Mountain - March 3rd, 2017

Posted: March 4th, 2017, 11:28 am
by arieshiker
Starting to get the impression that wherever I might hike this year, I'll be following Don Nelsen's boot prints.

Re: Dog Mountain - March 3rd, 2017

Posted: March 4th, 2017, 11:41 am
by Don Nelsen
VanMarmot wrote:Nice! So this is what it takes to beat the crowds on Dog Mountain! I'm guessing that parking wasn't a problem either? ;)
Amen to that! I was nevertheless a little surprised to meet a total of 7 other folks and one little black dog on the trail. None made the summit though. Prints in the snow proved the dog got the farthest!

dn

Re: Dog Mountain - March 3rd, 2017

Posted: March 4th, 2017, 8:16 pm
by mountainkat
Thank you, Don, for all of your recent trip reports showing the conditions out there. They are so helpful! :D

Re: Dog Mountain - March 3rd, 2017

Posted: March 5th, 2017, 8:41 am
by Eric Peterson
Awesome DN.

Your reports are making me think about waiting until June to start gorge hiking again :D

And ya, we have to get the gang together again for a hike :)

Re: Dog Mountain - March 3rd, 2017

Posted: March 8th, 2017, 9:36 am
by aircooled
Thanks for posting, Don! Could flowers possibly be a month away?

Re: Dog Mountain - March 3rd, 2017

Posted: March 9th, 2017, 8:23 pm
by -Q-
aircooled wrote:Thanks for posting, Don! Could flowers possibly be a month away?
Grass widows bloomed at coyote wall a week ago :mrgreen:

Re: Dog Mountain - March 3rd, 2017

Posted: March 11th, 2017, 12:45 pm
by drm
aircooled wrote:Thanks for posting, Don! Could flowers possibly be a month away?
I assume this is referring to Dog Mountain's famous display. That isn't normally till late May, and has varied by weeks in recent years depending on the weather. Whether that is different this year may depend when the snow up there melts and allows things to get started, but an early June peak might be a safer bet this year.