What a fine day for a hike with blue skies and a nice temperature inversion.
We decided to try completing the C-Loop portion of the Jones Creek Trail. It was interesting trying to find the trail cut-in point and we had to take out the Garmin 60Csx to see where the trail intersected the L-1500 Rd.
So we reached the intersection of the road with the Loop C trail and felt like we were parking on a portion of the road. Next to the car was a deer carcass that my wife really didn't appreciate as it still had some blood remnants on it.
And we decided to start in a counter-clockwise direction at this poorly marked, but obvious, TH.
We were glad to see that the trail was clear of snow (and frozen) but didn't know what to expect. We learned very quickly that there was plenty of snow to be found in the shade and northern exposure!
As the trail wound around we came to a nice secluded area with a bridge over a small stream.
Continuing on the eastern leg of this loop we broke out into a clearcut area that was mostly in the shade. The snow was covered with a thin layer of ice that easily collapsed under our weight. It didn't take long for the snow depth to reach about 1ft+, and it was very very slow going without snow shoes!
The view, looking east/NE was very impressive with the snow capped Mts.. I believe that the left-most peak is
Bluff Mt., but I can't be sure?
And as we continued the deep, ice-covered snow was draining our energy.
Despite this huge effort, we enjoyed the warm air and stopped often to admire the fantastic view!
We were also rewarded with a fine view of Mt. Hood in the distance!
After 1-1.5 miles of this we decided to bale out on the road that paralleled the trail. We also heard a vehicle spinning its wheels just above us on the road. Then we saw the driver and his son(?) looking for a place to secure their winch cable on one of the stumps. The road was like an ice rink and the snow had been compressed and polished into an ice skating rink. We put on our kahtoola's and moved down the road quickly.
And we found the location where the jeep had gotten stuck in high snow!
I have to say that once we got on the road the quality of our hike deteriorated significantly, for this leg of the hike. There were so many vehicles and people that it felt more like a crowded forest road. In addition, the amount of gunfire was frequent and from all directions. We had heard the gunfire before, but now we saw many of them actually shooting their rifles:x The driver from the vehicle that had been stuck in the snow was now shooting his pellet rifle into the direction of some target in the clearcut below. This was the direction of the trail we had just hiked on.
We saw several instances of reckless target shooting that disturbed us greatly, and we feared getting shot despite having bright orange material making us stand out!
We wound down around the road and soon found the section of the trail that would allow us to complete the loop.
And this northern portion of the trail also contained replanted clearcut that had a view towards Larch Mt..
Silver Star was hidden as we were at too low an altitude to see beyond the hills in front of us.
Continuing on we completed the west side of the loop and turned east to head back toward the TH. There was a large clearcut (not replanted) but the trail was easy to follow, and still marked.
Since this portion of the trail was facing south, it was relatively snow free, and the trail got a bit muddy. We soon completed the loop and vowed not to come back here without snowshoes (which we won't purchase until next year).
The hike was 6.4 miles with an elevation gain of about 1650ft.
