2022 and Beyond - Snow Levels

General discussions on hiking in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest
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drm
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Re: 2022 and Beyond - Snow Levels

Post by drm » May 22nd, 2022, 7:13 pm

Did my (nearly) annual spring ski up Red Mtn (southern boundary of Indian Heaven). You could drive Road 60 from the west almost to the turnoff for Red Mtn, so that's about one half mile from Crest Camp. Going up to the summit, I had to carry my skis about 1/3 of the way due to melted roads, which was still worth it to slide down. Very mushy snow.
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Red Mountain lookout
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Indian Heaven peaks (and Rainier)

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lordgares
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Re: 2022 and Beyond - Snow Levels

Post by lordgares » May 24th, 2022, 3:24 pm

I attempted to make it to Catalpa lake today, with no real expectation of actually making it there. Snow was patchy at about 3700 feet which necessitated me parking and walking to the trailhead on foot. Some stretches of the road were under a couple of feet but then you go around a corner and there wasn't any. Snow was fairly solid and deep at about 4000 feet where the trailhead is. I could only make it as far as the creek crossing, it was fast, deep, and I couldn't see an clear indication of where the trail went so I called it a day.

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“Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.”
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Aimless
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Re: 2022 and Beyond - Snow Levels

Post by Aimless » May 25th, 2022, 7:35 pm

I was on the Cast Creek trail today (5/25/22). It ascends up to both Cast Lake and East Zigzag Mt, mainly from their north side. Continuous snow coverage of the trail started at about 4000 ft. This was not the soft recent snow of April and early May, but older consolidated snow from last winter. It appears that all the late spring snow has now melted off in that area.

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Charley
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Re: 2022 and Beyond - Snow Levels

Post by Charley » May 26th, 2022, 11:32 am

Backpacking from Lower Lewis River Falls up Quartz Creek, as far as Snag Creek. Snag Creek was rushing, deep, and impassable for us. We were up as high as 2,400', and saw only a tiny amount of snow.
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On the drive back (over Old Man Pass, because it's a nice drive and the road is open), we did see snow along the road and in the trees. This is at about 2,900':

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Believe it or not, I barely ever ride a mountain bike.

AlpenGlowHiker
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Re: 2022 and Beyond - Snow Levels

Post by AlpenGlowHiker » May 26th, 2022, 1:11 pm

Charley, which day was this? I was up in the area this past weekend (5/20-5/22) and went over Oldman Pass, and didn't see any snow. Maybe I blinked?

Charley wrote:
May 26th, 2022, 11:32 am
Backpacking from Lower Lewis River Falls up Quartz Creek, as far as Snag Creek. Snag Creek was rushing, deep, and impassable for us. We were up as high as 2,400', and saw only a tiny amount of snow.

unnamed.jpg

On the drive back (over Old Man Pass, because it's a nice drive and the road is open), we did see snow along the road and in the trees. This is at about 2,900':


unnamed-2.jpg

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Charley
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Re: 2022 and Beyond - Snow Levels

Post by Charley » May 29th, 2022, 4:08 pm

AlpenGlowHiker wrote:
May 26th, 2022, 1:11 pm
Charley, which day was this? I was up in the area this past weekend (5/20-5/22) and went over Oldman Pass, and didn't see any snow. Maybe I blinked?
Ah- I forgot to include the date! That was Wednesday, May 24th. Oldman Pass had no snow on the road, of course, but the photo is from Wednesday alright.
Believe it or not, I barely ever ride a mountain bike.

Motz
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Re: 2022 and Beyond - Snow Levels

Post by Motz » May 31st, 2022, 7:47 am

05/26/2022: South facing Zigzag mountain, snow starting at 4400 feet elevation, solid snow cover starting at 4600 feet elevation.

Aimless
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Re: 2022 and Beyond - Snow Levels

Post by Aimless » May 31st, 2022, 7:32 pm

Salmon Butte trail on May 31, 2022. A few small snow patches starting at 4300 ft. and continuous snow at 4400 ft.

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Charley
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Re: 2022 and Beyond - Snow Levels

Post by Charley » June 1st, 2022, 8:26 pm

Hiked from Big Hollow Trailhead up to Observation Peak in the Trapper Creek Wilderness on Wednesday, May 31. Found continuous snow at 3,400'. We were able to follow the topography up to the summit, and found a number of trail signs along the way, but only saw exposed tread a few times above 3400. It was faster to simply follow the easiest route up than try to find the trail.
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An aside: we met an adult-led student group from a prestigious, local private high school heading up. We informed them of the snow; they said they were headed to Berry Camp. We passed within a hundred yards of this camp- it's covered in three to four feet of snow. Judging from the permits on their school bus, they were in for four days!

I'm really curious what kind of trip they're having, at this point. Snow camping is an acquired taste, and I'm guessing most of these kids haven't acquired it. So they're either having an interesting trip or have bailed out to more seasonable options (Lewis River? PCT?).
Believe it or not, I barely ever ride a mountain bike.

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drm
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Re: 2022 and Beyond - Snow Levels

Post by drm » June 2nd, 2022, 10:10 am

I tried getting to Observation Peak via the Observation Trail yesterday but where the trail goes north of the peak, there were too many steep traverses with long runouts for me. The snow was soft on top, but hard below, so I could get either a strong bite from spikes nor stamp bombproof steps.

I figured the Big Hollow Trail would have too many trees down for me. And how was the Big Hollow Creek ford?

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