Oregon Hikers

This is a thread for mentioning where you hiked recently, how much snow you encountered (or didn't) and at what elevations you encountered it (or didn't). This information usually a very hot topic from now until about mid-June. A full trip report isn't necessary.

My most recent hike was on the McCall Point trail above Rowena Crest in the Gorge on Wed. 3/20. Snow was very patchy and limited up to about 900 feet elevation or so. Above that the trail is snugged against a rather steep north-facing slope, and under tree cover, and there was packed and icy snow on the trail from people hiking on it. Not deep, though. Maybe 4 inches that looked like it would soon melt. Not having microspikes, I turned around rather than push on in trail runners. It was passable, but not pleasant walking on the packed snow/ice.

P.S. There were a few grass widows blooming that day, but not in profusion.

As of 3/24, Wildcat mountain road still has deep compact snow a few miles before the gravel pit trailhead. It was around 18-24" when I turned back. I was surprised to find quite a bit of snow on Salmon River road as well. It's clear to the old trail parking area but is deep to the main trailhead with a single set of ruts. Around 1' with some deeper drifts but compact.

Aimless wrote: ↑

March 25th, 2019, 2:49 pm

P.S. There were a few grass widows blooming that day, but not in profusion.

I was out there on 3/16 and surprised to see them! We just did the plateau not McCall point.

greenjello85 wrote: ↑

March 25th, 2019, 7:37 pm

I was surprised to find quite a bit of snow on Salmon River road as well. It's clear to the old trail parking area but is deep to the main trailhead with a single set of ruts. Around 1' with some deeper drifts but compact.

Thank you, I've been wondering about exactly this

Gifford Pinchot road 80 (leads to south climb) is still snowed in from the bottom. But snow is this, less than a foot thick, for many miles. Should start melting out pretty quickly if the weather cooperates.

Attempted low elevation backpack in Trapper Creek Wilderness last weekend. We got to the intersection for the 1/2 mile drive to the trailhead parking lot.

We were surprised and dismayed to see that there was still a solid 12"-15" of snow, completely covering the dirt road to the trailhead.

The snow looked a bit deeper in the forested, more shaded areas around where we stopped (the intersection). Possibly as much as 18" depth on trail.

This was unexpected because Pepper Creek (2140' elevation) read around 12" for last Saturday.

Maybe with the upcoming warmer rainy weather, it will be mostly melted out in ~2 weeks.

Trapper Ck is virtually the same altitude as the road in to Falls Creek Falls, which is recently reported to still be snowed in.

So that was the hint you missed.

And I do expect that the coming rains this week will at least make the TH accessible. But it will be well into April until you can get far up Trapper Creek.

This is the most frustrating time of the year. The weather is getting nice but almost everything snowed in

You can do winter locations like Deschutes River, Rogue River, coast of Olympic Peninsula,...

I suspect snow depths are pretty uniform below 3000 ft and once 1000 ft. is clear, then up to 3000 will become available very rapidly. Until then, we're all shut out if we aren't inclined or equipped for long walks in snow.

And those of us who don't mind traveling over snow don't mind having it to ourselves for just a little bit.

A couple days ago in mid-gorge (oregon side) I saw snow starting around 3000', exposed ridges clear to nearly 4000'. Lots of melt in the last ten days. Trails that were buried and hard to follow a week ago are now virtually clear and easy to follow.