Oregon Hikers

Sherrard Point 1/11/2020

Sherrard Point 1/13/2020

Thanks Kathy! Could you just keep going back up there every couple days to check on it for us?

If there's that much now, I expect that will be completely full well before the weekend... Are you going up from the river? How is the snow level on the trail below Sherrard? (I assume snowshoes are needed...)

I'm impressed you walked there

Bosterson, haha, maybe I will. I may have to see the snow covering the fence completely.

The first trip was from the river. Small amounts of snow starting at the boulder field. I just booted it to the top. The snow wasn't terribly deep that day and I only sunk at worst 6-8 inches down.

Today, I skied from 1 mile before the snow gate, which is around 2500 ft elevation. The snow got deep relatively quickly, but easy travel on skis. I rode my skis most of the way on the little trail to Sherrard, and took them off for the last little bit to the top. Postholed to my knees and thighs occasionally there. Maybe 1.5 - 2 ft came down since Saturday, so, yes, I will take snowshoes if I start from the river next time.

Jerry, today, I took the easy way up, on skis.

I tried to get to Sherrard today (via a Pablo direct route from Wahkeena). There is snow down to the Old Highway! And it's abysmal wet, heavy, terrible waterlogged snow! And it was raining! I put on snowshoes at the top of the Devil's Rest switchbacks. Apparently I only took 1 photo of the snow, on Basin Rd adjacent to the Devil's Rest trail ~ 2100 ft. Up high, the snow is terrible. I made it to the Larch Mtn Tr and then gave up (being rained on, everything wet, snow so deep and heavy). I had to break trail going down and it's like 3 ft of heavy wet slush you have to snowplow with your snowshoes for every step. The freezing level is going up (it was raining on the upper Larch Mtn trail ~ 3500 ft), so everyone should just stay out of the Gorge until the rain washes away the godawful slush that's currently out there, or else the temperature drops and refreezes everything.

I got to Sherrard today. The huge snow from 2w ago has condensed into a nice foot-deep layer of concrete that was covered by a thin layer of graupel for grip. The only hassle was that all the postholes and steps are frozen in place, which was awkward; but anything off trail was smooth sailing, as the snow is solid and doesn't break under you. (Except in the Sherrard parking lot - the snow is up to the NWFP fee box; I was breaking through the crust, it was dumb.) Went up from Multnomah and snow was minimal until after the talus field; frozen steps did not become annoying until near the junction with the road. Snow thinned to almost nothing as I went down to the road from the hairpin and then down Palmer Mill. The road is drivable to the gate in any car. People were out sledding!

Feb 3
between Cascade Locks and Hood River
Even with new snow this morning, it was only a quarter inch (total) at 2200'

I never went back to Larch since we got all of that snow. It's good to hear that the snow is better to walk on now.

I did go up to Silver Star from the Tarbell TH on 01/31. There was no snow on that route until about 3600 ft elevation. Weather was pretty terrible, with sideways driven rain and very strong wind. After walking most of the ridge in snowshoes on a mix of snow and bare dirt, and getting thoroughly soaked and pushed over by wind, finally lost interest in the summit, just before entering the woods where all of the trails join to proceed to the summit. I suppose some new snow has fallen since then. The snow was easy to walk on top of in snowshoes but it was sloppy postholing without them.

A little new snow in the gorge recently, including some today. Here's a pic of Dog Mt.