Mirror Lake TDH Loop - Nov 8, 2018

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adamschneider
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Re: Mirror Lake TDH Loop - Nov 8, 2018

Post by adamschneider » November 16th, 2018, 7:02 pm

I did this loop today. When I saw Pablo's TR last week, this bit jumped out at me:
pablo wrote:
November 8th, 2018, 11:19 pm
I finished the loop on a mountain bike trail that was just barely hikeable - I can't imagine myself riding a bike down what I traveled but I guess people do this, and for fun.
At the time I thought, "oh c'mon, mountain biking isn't that crazy." Now that I've been down the trail he was talking about — the one that heads down from just east of the cell phone tower — I see what he meant. :shock:

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No photos can really do it justice...
20181116-132720.jpg

Holy crap, that was a steep trail. If you don't have any poles with you, do yourself a favor and go down "Cannonball" or "Skyline Road." But if you want to get downhill FAST (1300' in 1 mile), try this trail! I admit I was sort of enjoying myself on the lower sections that had banked edges for controlling my turns...

MtHood_Oregon
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Joined: August 10th, 2016, 5:44 pm

Re: Mirror Lake TDH Loop - Nov 8, 2018

Post by MtHood_Oregon » November 29th, 2018, 5:12 pm

The primary rationale for the new trailhead was the high winter use occurring, once snowshoeing became popular in the last decade and users parked in the chainup area. And then as ODOT kept constructing pullouts along the highway past the trailhead, use there increased greatly in summer too. The challenge for winter visitors will be that by the time snowshoers get on the mountain, it is generally late morning (after 9 a.m.) as they are not usually planning an all day trip like the downhill skiers. This trailhead is now an extension of Skibowl's parking lot. And since a snow park is open to anyone with a pass, first come first served, it will likely be full on the peak weekends through winter and unavailable for snowshoers. Sunday's Oregonian feature in the A&E section proclaimed that Skibowl has 90 new parking spots (which includes this parking area plus 30 spots that this federal project constructed for Skibowl). So it will be no surprise to see the snowshoers parking out on the highway. Stay tuned...

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