Oregon Hikers

North side of Augspurger exhibited a bit of fresh snow in the trees around 3500'.
Surrounding peaks, and south/east side of Aug, were bare.

I went looking for snow in the gorge today. Started at the birthplace of my Chip avatar. All bare. Got as high as 3500ish' I guess, no snow.

Silver Star was bare, on the aspect I could see.

Looks like September out there.

I like this predicted snow-level graphic provided by KOIN.
Of course, it's stuffed with flaws, because KOIN isn't a serious source of information, it's an entertainment outlet.
But still, with a little tweaking, this could be useful.

Today I hiked the upper Cape Horn trail both ways. I would have done the full loop, but realized too late that the lower trail is open (seasonal closure not in effect yet).

SR14 was completely clear to Salmon Falls Rd, but the parking lot was icy (refrozen slush). A little higher, the trail was delightful packed snow. Nice walk. I brought microspikes but never donned them (probably should have for the icy descent).

Offtrail, I never even bothered to put on my gaiters. But I had 8" boots today, so there was that.

Went back to Cape Horn, because I was expecting much snow, and wanted a close short hike. Nope, it was almost bare.

1/12/2022 - Hamilton Mt Loop
The snow depth on the top of Hamilton Mountain was between 1 ½ - 2 feet. There was very little snow on the way up until about ¼ mile from the top. There was some post holing and bushes to work around. The view from the top was great because of the snow pulling down bushes.
We decided to do the loop and started off on the ridge towards the saddle. This part from the top to the saddle was very challenging. There was lots of post holing and working around bushes pulled down by the snow. We estimated this section took us 1 ½ hours to do. The whole loop took 5 hours. It was a very slow process. At one point while going through some downed bushes, my front leg post holed, my back leg was stuck in the bushes and my backpack was stuck in the bushes. My hiking friend had to help extract me or I might still be there.
When we reached the saddle, we were mostly done with bushwhacking. By this point I wished that I had one of Chip’s beers. But he would likely be “off trail” somewhere. We walked the road instead of Don’s Cutoff Trail, as we were already taking longer on our hike. The rest of the trail was fine except for occasional trees or bushes. The snow was not as deep on the rest of the trail. Quite an adventure!

Thanks for the report. I was hoping for something posted to help me decide what to do tomorrow.

dmthomas49 wrote: ↑

January 13th, 2022, 3:31 pm

By this point I wished that I had one of Chip’s beers. But he would likely be “off trail” somewhere.

Beer at Hamilton Saddle in winter? Ridiculous!

Easy weight-saving tip: skip the jar and drink from the bottle.

Anybody been to lower Trapper in the last few days? I'm in COVID recup and looking for something easy and flat and uncrowded - and out of the miserable inversion we have in the eastern Gorge. Dry Creek seems to fit the bill, but I would like to know if I need to bring snow gear or it is melted out at that altitude.

While we're speaking of 2021 snow levels... it's 2022. It's early in the winter and there's an entire new year stretching ahead. Any interest in a 2022 version of this?

drm wrote: ↑

January 15th, 2022, 10:09 am

Easy weight-saving tip: skip the jar and drink from the bottle.

Barbarian!
If weight is that critical, bring a flask of everclear.

Aimless wrote: ↑

January 15th, 2022, 11:26 am

While we're speaking of 2021 snow levels... it's 2022. It's early in the winter and there's an entire new year stretching ahead. Any interest in a 2022 version of this?

I don't understand why we divide this by calendar year. Makes no sense, in my mind.

Anyway...I was surprised at how much snow I encountered around 1600-ish today. Based on my recent experience, and talking to other people, I thought I'd be fine.

To use a well-known site, Duncan Creek TH was a bit snowy...not hard to walk, but starting to get spotty. That's about 1000' I guess.