Dog Mt. (again) on a wintery day 020619
Posted: February 6th, 2019, 9:44 pm
I've always loved cold and snowy weather. It may be genetic: All of my ancestors came from northern Europe and most of those from Norway. Nearly all of them had to endure the Dakotas from about 1845 until after about 1902 when many of them finally got smart enough to come to Washington State and Oregon.
We don't have the kind of weather the Norwegians put up with and surely never the kind of weather common in N. or even S. Dakota so when these rare and wonderful cold and snow events happen I'm all over it.
Today dawned so bright and cheery I just had to get out there and revel in it. I donned the appropriate gear and headed out for the gorge. I didn't even have a firm plan in mind as I drove east on SR14 but I wanted to get back by dark so went as far east as I could given that limitation and ended up at the Dog Mt. TH about noon.
There was only one car in the lot when I arrived, a Subaru (of course, the go-to car of hikers it seems) and evidence of only 6 or 7 hikers preceding me up the trail since the recent snow that started about three days ago.
A few photos on the way to the TH:
I put on my micro spikes at about 1,000' elevation: They were handy for traction on the steeper sections but not absolutely needed. Other tracks indicated hikers with just boots.
As I rounded the corner at the 2,500' level the tracks of previous hikers all but disappeared in the wind driven snow.
It was a bit nippy at the summit but the wind was light so no problem:
Another delightful day in the woods - and the snow. 5.6 miles RT, 2,846 EG.
We don't have the kind of weather the Norwegians put up with and surely never the kind of weather common in N. or even S. Dakota so when these rare and wonderful cold and snow events happen I'm all over it.
Today dawned so bright and cheery I just had to get out there and revel in it. I donned the appropriate gear and headed out for the gorge. I didn't even have a firm plan in mind as I drove east on SR14 but I wanted to get back by dark so went as far east as I could given that limitation and ended up at the Dog Mt. TH about noon.
There was only one car in the lot when I arrived, a Subaru (of course, the go-to car of hikers it seems) and evidence of only 6 or 7 hikers preceding me up the trail since the recent snow that started about three days ago.
A few photos on the way to the TH:
I put on my micro spikes at about 1,000' elevation: They were handy for traction on the steeper sections but not absolutely needed. Other tracks indicated hikers with just boots.
As I rounded the corner at the 2,500' level the tracks of previous hikers all but disappeared in the wind driven snow.
It was a bit nippy at the summit but the wind was light so no problem:
Another delightful day in the woods - and the snow. 5.6 miles RT, 2,846 EG.