Oregon Hikers

drm wrote: ↑

April 1st, 2019, 2:14 pm

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.

Yes, I expected that. The purpose of this trip was primarily to sleep outside (aaah refreshing) and help a new backpacker test his recently purchased equipment in an overnight trip.

I'm guessing the several inches of rain this weekend has gone a long way toward melting out the low- to mid-elevation terrain.

adamschneider wrote: ↑

April 7th, 2019, 9:22 pm

I'm guessing the several inches of rain this weekend has gone a long way toward melting out the low- to mid-elevation terrain.

I sure hope so!

Twin lakes Loop from Frog Lake yesterday.
100% snow cover the whole way.
Average depth at the lakes +/- 2'

Guy wrote: ↑

April 8th, 2019, 2:36 pm

Twin lakes Loop from Frog Lake yesterday.
100% snow cover the whole way.
Average depth at the lakes +/- 2'

Good! Hoping to ski it this week.

FYI, snowpack in the Trinities in northern California is like 300% of average. Most of the Sierra are more like 200% give or take. This year, for early meltoff, head north. The central and northern Washington Cascades are at about 60% of normal. Most of the Oregon Cascades are pretty close to average by now, the Wallowas are at 131% today. I do a search on "[Oregon | Washington] snow basin maps" to get area averages. They come out every day.

Bummer, I like a Trinities trip in spring because it's usually early melt off, maybe not so much this year

Where'd you find that? I can see how much snow there is but not percent of normal

I ran into DRM below Deer Lake several years ago

Went up Herman Ck, spent last night. Snow coverage becomes pretty complete just a few hundred yards before the Herman Ck crossing, which is at about 8 miles in. So Cedar Swamp is open for camping.

Also popped over the the other side to check out the Trapper Ck trailhead, getting close:

Nick Eaton Ridge is melted out below about 3500' with a few spots of snow in deep drifts before that. The trail isn't getting much use so a short section is hard to find above the saddle at 3,000'. That's where it traverses on the NE side of the ridge for about ¼ mile before regaining the ridge.

The view at 3,550':

My favorite snowpack link:

https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/webmap/#h ... 8&zoom=5.5

It is kind of a bummer when Washington is low on snow and California is high. It means everything kinda melts out at the same time, instead of there being a nice northward progression.