Oregon Hikers

A friend and I headed up the South Climb trail and set up camp on a miniscule bare melted patch just above the Round the Mountain trail junction (whose sign was buried as far as I could find). Most people are parking at Morrison Forest Camp now, though you can drive maybe a half mile further. Most people heading up high on the mountain this time of year are more interested in skiing or boarding down than they are in summiting.

We hiked a little ways and then put on our snowshoes. There was 3-4 feet of snow at the regular trailhead though also some decent melted patches if you wanted to camp there. It was another hour plus of slushing up the warm snow to our camp. On Sunday morning we went 500 feet higher or so for great views. The night was quite windy but it settled down during the day. Of course there was a heat wave going on and it was probably in the 70s up there.

Mt Adams snowpack had been maybe 25% above average, but our warm and sunny May has brought it down to about average now.

I like the bare patch, the signs appearing out of the melting snow, the spring snow you can just walk on

Did you really need snowshoes?

In this case you absolutely needed snowshoes (or even better, skis). Snow was deep and very soft. Of course some people didn't have them anyway, but it is even more exhausting to sink in a foot at least every step, and sometimes much more. Remember, it was hot this weekend, and nighttime temps were nowhere near freezing. When cooler weather returns, you could do without.

Looks like there's been a fire since my last visit.

I looked over at Adams on Saturday and noticed how snowy it looked. Wondered who was over there and what they were up to. Now I know! (A little piece of it anyway.)

Chip Down wrote: ↑

May 14th, 2018, 11:10 am

Looks like there's been a fire since my last visit.

Cougar Creek fire is the mot recent one there.

drm wrote: ↑

May 15th, 2018, 1:18 pm

Cougar Creek fire is the mot recent one there.

Does anyone know the status of the Bird Creek Meadows area? Is it going to open this summer? My understanding is that the Yakima Nation has not opened it since the fire.

Bird Creek Meadow area was open to hiking last year if you hiked in via Forest Service land. The roads on YN land are in terrible shape and have not been open to the public since the Cougar Creek fire. What I hear is that will not be the case this year, it will be closed to all public visitation, except some specific exceptions for work parties. Not sure if that is final yet.