First-time snowshoeing on Multnomah Basin Road
Posted: February 24th, 2019, 9:33 pm
I've never snowshoed before, but after an attempt at a low-elevation hike on the Herman Creek Trail last weekend led me into two-foot deep postholing, I figured this was a good time to give it a try. I bought an entry-level pair a few days ago and went with a friend up the Wahkeena and Devil's Rest trails try them out on Multnomah Basin and Palmer Mill roads.
We actually put them on just above the Devil's Rest trail junction, because there were no footprints since last night and the snow quickly got to 1-2' deep, increasing to 2-3' deep on Multnomah Basin Road. We saw Bosterson's tracks from yesterday on the basin road, but they were almost filled in already. By the time we got to Palmer Mill, we'd already been wearing them for a couple miles and I felt like it was a successful first try, so we turned around at that point and came back the same way.
Not long after turning back, we met a couple coming toward us. They thanked us for clearing a path with the snowshoes and we chatted about our destinations. Eventually we realized they thought they were following us to Devil's Rest! I figured if anyone was coming up behind us, they'd be disappointed when we turned off the route, but I didn't expect anyone would just follow our path. So on the way back, we drew a devil and an arrow pointing the right way.
The temperature was only 30 degrees and the air was still, so we didn't experience any snow bombs, but there were lots of smaller, snow-laden trees bent down over the trail blocking the path. In some cases we went under or around; in some cases I tapped them with a hiking pole and they sprung up like a mousetrap; and in some cases I misjudged and got a shower of fine powder raining onto my head. I started putting my hood up whenever walking under those. Fortunately there was no significant precipitation, and we stayed warm, dry and happy during our expedition.
I'm not really into snow sports or high mountain terrain, but it was really fun to experience this just a couple miles up the trail from the highway.
We actually put them on just above the Devil's Rest trail junction, because there were no footprints since last night and the snow quickly got to 1-2' deep, increasing to 2-3' deep on Multnomah Basin Road. We saw Bosterson's tracks from yesterday on the basin road, but they were almost filled in already. By the time we got to Palmer Mill, we'd already been wearing them for a couple miles and I felt like it was a successful first try, so we turned around at that point and came back the same way.
Not long after turning back, we met a couple coming toward us. They thanked us for clearing a path with the snowshoes and we chatted about our destinations. Eventually we realized they thought they were following us to Devil's Rest! I figured if anyone was coming up behind us, they'd be disappointed when we turned off the route, but I didn't expect anyone would just follow our path. So on the way back, we drew a devil and an arrow pointing the right way.
The temperature was only 30 degrees and the air was still, so we didn't experience any snow bombs, but there were lots of smaller, snow-laden trees bent down over the trail blocking the path. In some cases we went under or around; in some cases I tapped them with a hiking pole and they sprung up like a mousetrap; and in some cases I misjudged and got a shower of fine powder raining onto my head. I started putting my hood up whenever walking under those. Fortunately there was no significant precipitation, and we stayed warm, dry and happy during our expedition.
I'm not really into snow sports or high mountain terrain, but it was really fun to experience this just a couple miles up the trail from the highway.