East Zigzag Mtn Lookout, Feb 13, 2018

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pablo
Posts: 1451
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

East Zigzag Mtn Lookout, Feb 13, 2018

Post by pablo » February 13th, 2018, 11:34 pm

Visited the East Zigzag Mtn lookout location. Not much snow for this time of year and I predict hiking season in our area will start early. Took the NF-27 Rd to get to the trailhead. I prefer hiking up from the trail starting at the east end of the 35a Rd down below but I got a late start.

The bad news; no improvements to NF-27. The good news; NF-27 can't get any worse.

Followed the trail most of the way up using no snowshoes or spikes.

Thing to note about the photos below is the lack of snow below 5000'.

On the way to the old lookout location on East Zigzag Mtn. Snow on the ridge but there are bare spots.

ImageRidgeToLookout by pauljess999, on Flickr

ImageLookoutLoc by pauljess999, on Flickr

Silver Star Range

ImageSilverStar by pauljess999, on Flickr

St Helens and Mt Margaret backcountry

ImageStHelens by pauljess999, on Flickr

Rainier

ImageRainier by pauljess999, on Flickr

Jeff and Ollalie

ImageJeff by pauljess999, on Flickr

Hood and a frozen Burnt Lake

ImageHoodBurntLake2 by pauljess999, on Flickr

Hood

ImageHood by pauljess999, on Flickr

Nice day.
The future's uncertain and the end is always near.

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retired jerry
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Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

Re: East Zigzag Mtn Lookout, Feb 13, 2018

Post by retired jerry » February 14th, 2018, 7:34 am

wow, nice, cool to get up there in the winter

did you use snowshoes or anything? postholeing?

Yeah, hopefully there won't be a bunch of snow in the next couple months and we can have an early hiking season

pablo
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Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

Re: East Zigzag Mtn Lookout, Feb 13, 2018

Post by pablo » February 14th, 2018, 2:21 pm

retired jerry wrote:wow, nice, cool to get up there in the winter

did you use snowshoes or anything? postholeing?

Yeah, hopefully there won't be a bunch of snow in the next couple months and we can have an early hiking season
Where there was snow it was frozen and firm and I bare booted the entire hike. Water content in the snow I did travel on seemed quite low so were it warmer there would have been some post-holing. Whenever I was under a solid canopy there was little snow even towards the top (~4800'). It will take a fairly solid period of intense snow storms to make up this deficit.

--Paul
The future's uncertain and the end is always near.

Jesse
Posts: 103
Joined: June 6th, 2009, 2:48 pm

Re: East Zigzag Mtn Lookout, Feb 13, 2018

Post by Jesse » February 14th, 2018, 2:32 pm

retired jerry wrote:wow, nice, cool to get up there in the winter

did you use snowshoes or anything? postholeing?

Yeah, hopefully there won't be a bunch of snow in the next couple months and we can have an early hiking season
Luckily the upcoming weather looks cold and stormy for the forseeable future. I love hiking just as much as the next guy, but I don't get much enjoyment being able to access those high elevation spots so early when it means drought, low river levels, stressed forests and a bad wildfire season. Seems kinda selfish to me.

Snow in the high country through early summer is just part of hiking in the Northwest. I guess for those who don't like it there is always southern california. :D

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retired jerry
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Re: East Zigzag Mtn Lookout, Feb 13, 2018

Post by retired jerry » February 14th, 2018, 3:02 pm

yeah, it's not good to have low snow levels, I'm rooting for more snow

but, if there is low snow I might as well appreciate it :)

Jesse
Posts: 103
Joined: June 6th, 2009, 2:48 pm

Re: East Zigzag Mtn Lookout, Feb 13, 2018

Post by Jesse » February 14th, 2018, 3:44 pm

retired jerry wrote:yeah, it's not good to have low snow levels, I'm rooting for more snow

but, if there is low snow I might as well appreciate it :)
That's a good point. Cant control the weather so might as well make the most of whatever hand you get. I get that.

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