Another gorge ice storm - Vista House, Feb. 9th, 2017
Posted: February 9th, 2017, 4:09 pm
After seeing the build-up of freezing rain starting as I passed by Crown Point on the freeway yesterday, I wondered what it would look like this morning. I was a day late to see the best of it on Jan. 19th and didn't want to miss out this time.
It was already 50 degrees at my house as I set out this morning but by the time I got to the Corbett exit off I-84 it was down to 37. I was a little surprised to find it was 54 degrees just a mile up the hill in Corbett so at first I thought I might miss out again - how wrong I was! In the two miles from there to the junction of the scenic hwy and Larch Mt. road, the temperature plunged back down to 33 degrees and the remains of the ice storm were just starting to fall from the trees. The scenic hwy was closed at that point so I hiked the 8/10 mile down to the Vista House.
I kept a wary eye on the trees above the road (see the last two photos) and got pelted with chunks of falling ice but other than that, this was a very enjoyable hike. Micro spikes were most helpful, BTW.
It was already 50 degrees at my house as I set out this morning but by the time I got to the Corbett exit off I-84 it was down to 37. I was a little surprised to find it was 54 degrees just a mile up the hill in Corbett so at first I thought I might miss out again - how wrong I was! In the two miles from there to the junction of the scenic hwy and Larch Mt. road, the temperature plunged back down to 33 degrees and the remains of the ice storm were just starting to fall from the trees. The scenic hwy was closed at that point so I hiked the 8/10 mile down to the Vista House.
I kept a wary eye on the trees above the road (see the last two photos) and got pelted with chunks of falling ice but other than that, this was a very enjoyable hike. Micro spikes were most helpful, BTW.
