Snowshoeing at Edison Sno Park - 1/1/17

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justpeachy
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Snowshoeing at Edison Sno Park - 1/1/17

Post by justpeachy » January 6th, 2017, 12:56 pm

On New Year's Day Greg and I went snowshoeing at Edison Sno Park, which is a few miles south of the Cascade Lakes Highway on Road 45. It was a bit of a white knuckle drive due to low visibility, questionable road traction, and several cocky drivers, including a giant jacked-up pickup coming at us in the opposite direction in our lane while passing. Going way too fast and driving way too recklessly for the conditions. Good grief.

Anyway, it was a relief to get out of the car and hit the trail.

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It was a winter wonderland out there with all the snow.

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I've never snowshoed on the east side of the Cascades before and I was delighted by two things over there: 1) how the beautiful red ponderosa bark looked in the snow and 2) how fluffy the snow is! Snow on the east side is fun snow, not the awful sticky icy junk we get here in Portland.

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The network of trails at Edison is quite a maze. It's actually quite confusing. Some junctions are signed and some are not.

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We managed to navigate our way to the Edison Shelter, which had an impressive amount of snow on the roof.

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We sat inside enjoying the warmth of the stove and the view out the door to the snowy forest beyond. Don't let the people-less photos fool you. We saw over a dozen people while we hung out here.

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It was unclear which trail we needed to finish our loop back to the parking lot, so we followed a sign that said 1.5 miles to the sno park. Along the way passed this massively weird snow mound. I'm guessing there's a pile of lava or boulders under there.

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I think we did about 3.5 miles or so and I couldn't tell you which trails we took. Next time we'll bring the GPS. The map on the Forest Service page is only so-so, but there's a better map here.


We enjoyed some beer in Ben before heading back to our cozy Airbnb cabin.

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BTW, we had an interesting time getting home on Monday. We had considered doing the Tumalo Falls snowshoe before heading home, but Greg had a committment in Portland in the evening and we didn't think we had enough time. Turns out we were right. It took us just under six hours to drive from Bend to Portland via Highway 20/22. Most of the time we were going about 30 MPH due to the heavy traffic and the snowy conditions. Sure was a beautiful drive, though, with the fresh snow on the trees. Our AutoSocks did great, although after so many miles (we put them on near Black Butte and took them off just after Detroit Lake) they are starting to show wear. Might only get one or two more uses out of them.

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texasbb
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Re: Snowshoeing at Edison Sno Park - 1/1/17

Post by texasbb » January 6th, 2017, 2:31 pm

Love those ponderosa-on-white pictures!

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Paul2
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Re: Snowshoeing at Edison Sno Park - 1/1/17

Post by Paul2 » January 6th, 2017, 3:43 pm

Lovely report! I've driven past Edison many times from Sunriver to go nordic skiing at Mt. Bachelor or Virginia Meissner snow park, and I'm been meaning to try out their trails sometime.
how fluffy the snow is! Snow on the east side is fun snow, not the awful sticky icy junk we get here in Portland.
That storm had nice fluffy snow. Most snow that falls in Sunriver is the wet, heavy kind. That snow was a treat after the heavy stuff that fell right before Christmas! Snow is snow though, I think the heaviest snow can be very pretty, because it accumulates well on the trees and looks cool with all the branches weighed down. I'd take dry snow over wet snow for driving! Dry snow blows off the road when wet snow is packed into ice really easily.
I'm guessing there's a pile of lava or boulders under there.
Lava probably! Lots of lava outcrops in that area in the summer. There is Edison Ice Cave, a lava tube, somewhere in the Edison trails, though possibly buried right now.

Funny, we were stuck in that same line. Took 4 hours, Sunriver to Corvallis. We had snow tires so didn't have to stop for chains. Monday was a better day than Sunday, apparently 20 was closed for an avalanche part of the day.
I've been wandering early and late, from New York City to the Golden Gate, and it don't look like I'll ever stop my wandering.
-James Taylor

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Born2BBrad
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Re: Snowshoeing at Edison Sno Park - 1/1/17

Post by Born2BBrad » January 6th, 2017, 4:37 pm

Great TR and pictures as usual :!:

I was considering getting some AutoSocks or Spikes-Spiders, since chains are not supposed to be used on AWD Subarus. I wonder what the difference in traction is between AutoSocks and good snow tires.

I ended up getting upper quality studded snow tires, mainly to get up my icy driveway.

CU around!

Brad
Make now always the most precious time. Now will never come again.
- Jean Luc Picard

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justpeachy
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Re: Snowshoeing at Edison Sno Park - 1/1/17

Post by justpeachy » January 6th, 2017, 8:07 pm

Most snow that falls in Sunriver is the wet, heavy kind.
Wow, really? That's disappointing to hear. I figured since the climate over there was drier that powdery fluffy snow was the norm. I guess we lucked out!
I wonder what the difference in traction is between AutoSocks and good snow tires. I ended up getting upper quality studded snow tires, mainly to get up my icy driveway.
That's a good question. Studded tires or winter tires are not an option for us since we live in apartment and don't have anywhere to store the "summer tires" during the winter. Too bad, because after reading this article yesterday it sounds like having winter tires would be a bonus.

Webfoot
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Re: Snowshoeing at Edison Sno Park - 1/1/17

Post by Webfoot » January 7th, 2017, 4:51 am

Studded tires reduce grip on concrete; stopping distance increased 32 percent for a set of four studded tires on wet concrete according to this report. They are forbidden in some states and some parking garages, and in the summer in most states. And studs don't help with traction on snow. The Nokian, Blizzak and Michelin studless snow and ice tires seem like a better choice.

The Michelin X-Ice tires have a 40,000 mile treadlife warranty so theoretically you could use them year-round if you are willing to pay the price.

p.s. I want to hike through snowy ponderosa pines now. :)

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retired jerry
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Re: Snowshoeing at Edison Sno Park - 1/1/17

Post by retired jerry » January 7th, 2017, 6:14 am

I read that article too. A lot of the outsideonline articles are interesting. And it's free, they email me several times a week, which I assume I could turn off if I wanted : )

Winter tires have a rubber formula that stays soft below 45 F so they grip better. But a consequence is they wear out faster in warmer weather.

Tires degrade and some people say tires should be replaced after 6 years or 8 years regardless of tread wear. I don't put very many miles on tires so maybe I should get winter tires - even if they wear out faster, it wouldn't matter, because maybe the 6 or 8 year clock would run out regardless of the fact the tread wore out faster because they were softer.

Like the article said, a set of winter tires cost $500 or $1000. If they prevented one accident, that would more than pay for the tires.

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Splintercat
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Re: Snowshoeing at Edison Sno Park - 1/1/17

Post by Splintercat » January 7th, 2017, 10:51 am

Great post, Cheryl - love those Ponderosa shots!

Tom :)

RPEngie
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Re: Snowshoeing at Edison Sno Park - 1/1/17

Post by RPEngie » January 9th, 2017, 9:05 pm

Beautiful pictures!

In response to the Auto-socks vs. Snow tires, I upgraded to snow tires (Michelin X-ICE ie3s) this year from Auto-Socks on my Impreza. Luckily my small storage unit had just enough room for the all seasons otherwise they probably would've ended up under my bed! The snow tires do provide better traction from my limited time on them, but the Auto-socks are pretty solid, especially for packed or wet snow. I put them on several times last year and had no issues even with a couple sno-parks with 6-8" of fresh snow. I only had one time where I had to backup (got stuck on a slope for too long).

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retired jerry
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Re: Snowshoeing at Edison Sno Park - 1/1/17

Post by retired jerry » January 16th, 2017, 3:11 pm

I bet boot soles have the same property

The rubber formula for some get hard below 45 F so they don't have as much traction

other boot soles stay soft at colder temperatures, have better grip, but wear out faster

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