Indian Heaven snow update 10/14/17

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romann
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Indian Heaven snow update 10/14/17

Post by romann » October 15th, 2017, 12:21 am

Just wanted to post a quick update for Thomas Lake trail from Saturday. It was quite a bit of snow there today (more than I expected) - but it's melting fast. It was beautiful out there, almost looked like real winter.

Snow was 10-15 inches deep in most places (2x deeper where trail goes in a trench); much of the snow under trees turned into slush in just 3.5 hours I was there. Drier snow in the open, it will last longer. Rain & "snow bombs" from the trees. I was hit by large "bomb" in the shoulder (it can hurt), a really big one fell onto thin ice on Heather Lake 50 yards from me, it broke the ice and made a big splash. It was interesting time on the trail. I think in a couple days the forested parts will melt out - rain from trees really helps. Meadows - maybe next 5-6 days. Not sure fall foliage will remain, it's a lot of weight in wet snow.

Thomas Lake
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Most fall colors were a branch or two sticking from the snow. This was the best patch on the trip
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Heather Lake
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Trail is well-tracked for couple of miles
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Lots of animal & bird tracks
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...and strange snow creatures
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Naha Lake
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Looking north through the trees..
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Just east of Naha Lake - more snow
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Greetings from Česká! (I didn't meet anyone before my turnaround point)
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Rock Lake Meadows
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Got a view of the burn - right (south) side of East Crater is burned, north side looks green
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A few comments from the road:

This is how it looked about 1 mile from Thomas Lake trailhead. Snow started at 3500'-3600' and the road had 5-6 inches - snow was scratching my car's bottom. That said, if Corolla made it I think any car can
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St Helens and Margaret Backcountry from McClelland Viewpoint.
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Last edited by romann on October 16th, 2017, 11:46 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Bosterson
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Re: Indian Heaven snow update 10/14/17

Post by Bosterson » October 16th, 2017, 9:42 am

Great pics, Roman. There's quite a bit of new snow up there, too bad it won't last (yet)! I'm glad the area is open and you can close enough to see the burn. I assume that the road will become impassible later once the snow is higher, making for a much longer approach?
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chiefWright
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Re: Indian Heaven snow update 10/14/17

Post by chiefWright » October 16th, 2017, 12:10 pm

Will be interesting if this does melt out, or if it's the start of the winter snowpack. >15" takes a fair amount of temperature and/or warm rain to melt out, and the forecast is for chilly rain for the next few days, then snow starting on Friday. We'll see.....

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romann
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Re: Indian Heaven snow update 10/14/17

Post by romann » October 16th, 2017, 1:11 pm

Bosterson wrote:Great pics, Roman. There's quite a bit of new snow up there, too bad it won't last (yet)! I'm glad the area is open and you can close enough to see the burn. I assume that the road will become impassible later once the snow is higher, making for a much longer approach?
Thanks Nat. I think the closest they plow in winter is up to snow-parks on FR-30; these little forest roads become snowmobile trails. It will be a long hike in the snow.

I changed date in the title, it's definitely 10/14, not 8/14 (I wish!) :)
chiefWright wrote:Will be interesting if this does melt out, or if it's the start of the winter snowpack. >15" takes a fair amount of temperature and/or warm rain to melt out, and the forecast is for chilly rain for the next few days, then snow starting on Friday. We'll see.....
I was surprised how fast it was melting with all the water dripping from trees. OTOH it was 32F when I was pulling out, so all the water-soaked slush could have frozen hard overnight. Plus, like you noticed, they changed the forecast and it may snow more on Friday. But now snow's good for a change and Indian Heaven is a perfect place for snowshoeing.

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drm
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Re: Indian Heaven snow update 10/14/17

Post by drm » October 16th, 2017, 2:54 pm

Crest Camp and the east side trailheads are closer to plowed snoparks, starting at about 8 miles. It's father to Thomas Lake's trailhead. If you've got access to a snowmobile and are into that, you can get to the trailheads easy and I expect some of those machines go up into the wilderness too. They certainly do on Mt. Adams.

I would not expect that snow to melt off at this point unless we have a long dry sunny spell. Some spots will that get the most sun exposure, but the sun is just too low in the sky now to even shine on many places, and the sun-power is getting weaker where it does.

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xrp
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Re: Indian Heaven snow update 10/14/17

Post by xrp » October 19th, 2017, 8:32 am

drm wrote: I would not expect that snow to melt off at this point unless we have a long dry sunny spell. Some spots will that get the most sun exposure, but the sun is just too low in the sky now to even shine on many places, and the sun-power is getting weaker where it does.
The rain this week might melt a good amount of it off.

The Surprise Lakes snotel @ 4,300 feet elevation peaked at 6 inches last Saturday but is now at 0 inches.

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drm
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Re: Indian Heaven snow update 10/14/17

Post by drm » October 20th, 2017, 7:09 am

Enough rain could melt it off, but my guess is that some snow will be mixed in with that rain, at least up around Rock Lake.

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xrp
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Re: Indian Heaven snow update 10/14/17

Post by xrp » October 23rd, 2017, 5:14 am

Anyone planning to go into IHW this week?

I would be interested to see/hear how the rains over the weekend melted out the snow accumulation up there. I'm hoping to overnight in IHW this Fri/Sat.

Watching the radar off and on this weekend showed that it rained in IHW and didn't snow more.

Thanks for any forthcoming information!

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drm
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Re: Indian Heaven snow update 10/14/17

Post by drm » October 23rd, 2017, 7:26 am

I would think it will depend on the altitude. Big difference between Thomas and Deep lakes. Surprise Lakes snotel does show a little snow now, so that would be much more at 5000 feet.

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adamschneider
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Re: Indian Heaven snow update 10/14/17

Post by adamschneider » October 23rd, 2017, 8:21 am

Bring your hip waders. It rained 9.7" at Surprise Lakes between Thursday and Sunday.

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