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Larch Mt & Sherrard Point - 2017/03/12

Posted: March 12th, 2017, 5:09 pm
by Guy
Haven't written a TR in a while but thought some folks might like to know what conditions on the Larch Mt. Rd are at the current time. We chose this hike because 2 of our group had to be back in PDX by 5:00, one of them to play on a soccer team! It ended up being more of a workout than we expected.

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Opening pic.

Just past Mile Post 9 the Larch Mt Road went from no snow to 10-12" of snow in about 100 yards! At first I though we could make it in the crosstrek but 10+ inches of snow between the ruts wasn't a good idea and I decided to stop and back up back to bare pavement. Took us a about 30 minutes to get 100 yards back down the road and the purchase of the folding snow shovel was finally justified :) .

Managed to turn around and park in a nice bare spot off the road about 0.75 miles from the gate. We walked in "big truck" ruts up to the gate!

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There was actually less snow at the gate than 0.75 before it. At the gate we saw that "Big Truck Driver" had managed to drive up the bank into the trees then back down onto the road on the other side of the gate!

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We donned snow shoes about 0.25 miles past the gate when "Big Truck Driver's" Ruts stopped.

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Slogging up the road was hard work, the snow was deep, soft and heavy! Very few tracks on the road it looked like only one other snow shoer & one tough sole had post holed up the road in the last couple of days.

1.8 miles past the gate we elected to take the 0315 side road and connect to the Larch Mountain Trail thinking that the snow would be firmer under the trees. The two sets of tracks we were following had also made the same decision.

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Looking down the Larch Mt Trail (No foot prints coming up!)

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Onwards & Upwards!

Though steeper travel on the Larch Mt Trail was easier than on the road.
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Heading up through the trees to the summit of Larch Mountain.

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Larch Mt Summit

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Larch Mt Parking lot sign.

The final 0.25 miles to Sherrard point was slow going in deep snow.

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Finally though, Sherrard Point came into view.

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Bit of a cold wind up on the point but we suffered though! If we had been an hour latter we would have had blue sky views of Hood but she, Jefferson, Adams & St Helens did come in and out of view while we ate our lunch and polished off a bottle of Les Portes de Bordeaux and some hot Choya.

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Cheers

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After about 30 minutes the cold had the better of us and so we made tracks for home.

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We saw only 2 other people all day until we got almost back to the car. At the point where I decided to call it a day and back up we found a 4WD BMW had slid off the road and was high centered on the bank. Folks from about 4 other cars blocked by the BWM including a kind guy we past on the trail with a Toyota Land Cruiser was working on seeing if it would be possible to pull them back onto the road!

All told about 8.7 miles & 1700' of EG & I'm glad I'm not playing soccer this evening :)

And finally it's "All for Love" :)

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Re: Larch Mt & Sherrard Point - 2017/03/12

Posted: March 12th, 2017, 8:37 pm
by arlohike
Thanks for showing the conditions at the top! I met a guy on Larch Mountain Trail around the Franklin Ridge junction today who was intending to go all the way ... I wonder if he made it.

Re: Larch Mt & Sherrard Point - 2017/03/12

Posted: March 12th, 2017, 9:02 pm
by naturallog
I wonder why Big Truck Driver decided to stop seemingly so abruptly, after the brazen move...

Was thinking about Larch for next weekend, but will likely pass :) Thanks for the effort!

Great shots of Hood. I'm jealous of the folks with a window seat.

Re: Larch Mt & Sherrard Point - 2017/03/12

Posted: March 13th, 2017, 11:47 am
by BigBear
Nice pictures of Mt. Hood. I had heard it still existed, but I wasn't certain with all of the cloud cover. The UFO in two of the pictures is an interesting size comparison.

Re: Larch Mt & Sherrard Point - 2017/03/12

Posted: March 13th, 2017, 4:25 pm
by Guy
naturallog wrote:I wonder why Big Truck Driver decided to stop seemingly so abruptly, after the brazen move...
Snow depth increases rapidly after the gate even for "Big Truck Driver"! 2' plus around MP12, 4' plus up at the parking lot. The picnic tables in the old Larch picnic area are completely covered.

Re: Larch Mt & Sherrard Point - 2017/03/12

Posted: March 13th, 2017, 4:56 pm
by Don Nelsen
Nice job! Thanks for the TR and photos. I was wondering what the conditions are up there.

dn

Re: Larch Mt & Sherrard Point - 2017/03/12

Posted: March 13th, 2017, 6:31 pm
by bobcat
Great report! I especially admire your shots of Mt. Hood!

Re: Larch Mt & Sherrard Point - 2017/03/12

Posted: March 14th, 2017, 5:37 am
by Chase
Envious you got out there and also that you make such good TRs.

Re: Larch Mt & Sherrard Point - 2017/03/12

Posted: March 14th, 2017, 12:02 pm
by Don Nelsen
Guy wrote: Image
Larch Mt Parking lot sign.
At least it's not as bad as it might be!! Here's that same sign on May 28th of '08:
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It melted out fast that year though. Here is is again on June 20th:
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dn

Re: Larch Mt & Sherrard Point - 2017/03/12

Posted: March 14th, 2017, 4:00 pm
by Guy
Great Photos Don!

Wish I'd thought of jumping into the sign hole :D