2.12.18 Silver Star

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weathercrazy
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2.12.18 Silver Star

Post by weathercrazy » February 16th, 2018, 9:26 am

Main Gallery:

http://www.naturespixpdx.com/Landscapes ... ilver-Star

Opening pic:
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I'm afraid I'm a little late on trail conditions as they are changing rapidly. What I can tell you though, is the snow was solid, but post-holed by previous hikers. Any new soft snow on top would hide these holes and make it a little more difficult to navigate.

I thought it was going to be my first trip up Silver Star without seeing another person, but alas, about 20 min before returning to my car I came across one other hiker on his way up.

The trail is in good shape, with only a few areas of hard packed snow along the trail until you get in the forest near the summit, then it was solid snow walking, but again, firm snow. I used some spikes on the way down to reduce the risk of slipping.

There was just a dusting of snow remaining on the trees as it was very windy.

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This was the first area of appreciable snow cover on the trail:

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First views of the 3 mountains together:

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So different from the meadows covered in flowers in the summer!

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Approaching the summit, decidedly more snowy:

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Love me some snowy tree scenes!

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Trail up to the saddle between the summits:

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Furry friend footprint

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Summit views, strong winds occasionally, very cold!

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Trail from Bluff Mountain:

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Little Baldy:

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Snow-covered Ed's Trail, I can imagine the back side of this is very dicey at best for hiking!

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Rainier:

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The road down:

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Toward the bottom it was like spring out of the wind and later in the day.

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I would not recommend Ed's trail as it looks like several areas the snow is too steep to safely navigate.

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UTurn
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Re: 2.12.18 Silver Star

Post by UTurn » February 16th, 2018, 7:32 pm

Beautiful day. Beautiful photos!

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Splintercat
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Re: 2.12.18 Silver Star

Post by Splintercat » February 18th, 2018, 11:10 am

Great photos, Tyler! What a difference a week makes, too... I suspect that trailhead is out of reach for awhile with a couple feet of snow (or more) on it! I really liked the second photo -- nice light and dusting of snow on a grove of young Noble fir. My favorite place to be!

Tom :)

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