Oregon Hikers

Photo of the Day:
Finally got out for the opening hike of the year, and this one set the bar high. Sunday looked like the obviously the better day for weather, but I had plans and had to settle for Saturday. We wanted something straightforward that would still have some scenery even if we didn't get clear skies, so a Boy Scout Ridge snowshoe was it.

We got a late start, and didn't pull into the White River SnoPark until a bit before 9am. There were maybe a half dozen cars already. We parked and headed up, with a low cloud ceiling that we figured might clear if we stayed out long enough. There were a handful of ski and snowshoe tracks, enough to show the route but we still had to work a little bit. We started getting some sun breaks after maybe half an hour, and the clouds really began to clear right as we got to the lower viewpoint.
We waited around for a bit as the skies turned totally blue. See Photo of the Day. A few skiers and splitboarders were having a good time coming down the ridge. We had some snacks, and that got the gray jays pretty interested in us.
Continuing up the ridge, we continued to have great views of the mountain and surrounding scenery.
Lots of pretty, untouched snow and interesting snow/ice formations on the trees.
The cloud layer to the south was very stubborn, so we never got the great views down to Mt. Jefferson or beyond. But the clouds stayed south of 35, so we at least had a sweeping panorama of Boy Scout Ridge and down into the White River Canyon.
Getting back down was a snap. Unsurprisingly the SnoPark was packed when we returned to the car around 2pm.

Looks like a lovely day. Very pristine!

I did a loop version of this hike about a year ago. It was a nice sunny day with about 9 in of new snow from a couple of days earlier. I had low expectations but found it a thrill.

A crew was working on the powerline corridor and left a nice fresh snowcat track to follow for about 100 yards. It appeared to end at a trail junction marked by blue cross country ski trail diamonds. Past that, I could barely make out ski tracks only occasionally. I followed the diamonds to the PCT and went north and eventually the diamonds ended, which seemed strange. I'd never seen a cross country ski trail dead-end like that. I had my GPS and roughly found my way north to the PCT/Timberline (#600) trail, a great viewpoint. I returned along the White River valley.

A bluebird day. Just beautiful.

With the good weather able to get by on trail with just spikes or snowshoes a must still? Thx

Alpenglow18 wrote: ↑

January 15th, 2022, 4:23 pm

With the good weather able to get by on trail with just spikes or snowshoes a must still? Thx

Last weekend, snowshoes were a must. Even close to the trailhead where most of the foot traffic was, there were still spots where people had postholed a couple feet. Of course, there were plenty of folks without snowshoes who didn't go far and just dealt with it.

This weekend, if I were going back I'd bring showshoes.

Nice report and really great photos! Thanks for posting!

johnspeth wrote: ↑

January 14th, 2022, 8:45 am

I followed the diamonds to the PCT and went north and eventually the diamonds ended, which seemed strange. I'd never seen a cross country ski trail dead-end like that.

Lucky guy! My ski buddy and I are old hands at trying to find cut logs, downed trees with diamonds, and old, melted out ski tracks. We get lost on poorly-marked trails all the time, but that's part of the fun of it all.