Amazing how fast the snow melts this time of year!!! You can see changes from morning to evening on a dayhike!
And in just 3 days...
...the difference in snowpack on the Topspur/McNeil Point trail, from Wednesday http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/vie ... ?f=8&t=333 to Saturday was tremendous!
On 7/9, the trip to McNeil Point involved long stretches of routefinding on deep uneven snow, and the trail (where it decided to show itself) was chock-full of those pesky little “zero feet to 6 feet deep in 2 steps” snowbanks...
...but it was definitely worth it to get there!
...with boot prints tracking across the snow much of the rest of the way. Quite a change in just three days of Summer!
Curiously, this year is a more-or-less ‘normal’ July in the high country; the wildflowers are coming out now, and the heather is beginning to bloom.
The slowest-melting part of the trail (a North-facing hillside in the shade), from the PCT/Timberline Trail junction http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/dow ... &mode=view
to the McGee Creek Trail junction, could be mostly bypassed by taking the Timberline Trail (the old PCT) ‘counterclockwise’ around the mountain, across the snow-free South side of Bald Mtn, and then hopping back over the ridge to the Timberline Trail going ‘clockwise’, on the short connector (not shown on some maps) at the low point in the ridge (before the Muddy Fork section washout - http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/vie ... ?f=8&t=342).
The next half mile or so, past the McGee Creek junction, the trail was still mostly buried on Saturday, but the snow wasn’t deep, and the going is easy here.
There is still quite a lot of deep snow on the lower part of the McNeil Point cutoff trail (still looks like Wednesday), and on the switchbacks just below where it leaves the Timberline Trail http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/dow ... &mode=view
but it’s easy to follow the route through here, the snow is soft in the sun, and the trail breaks out onto the mostly-snowfree ridge pretty quickly.
And there you are!
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The trail heading up the ridge from McNeil Point shelter leads to ever-bigger views:
The big rock jumble at the top of this trail (“Ho” Rock), at approximately 7100’, is a good stopping place:
...and is an outstanding viewpoint:
...to the West:
...to the North:
...and to the South along Cathedral Ridge, to “Co” Rock, at about 7300’:
Climber’s routes continue South from here (Ho Rock) along both sides of the ridge, eventually connecting to the Mt Hood Cathedral Ridge climbing route at the prominent rock horn (“Cathedral Horn”) visible on Mt Hood’s left hand skyline at about 9000’. Proceeding South past Ho Rock involves scrambling and climbing on scree and loose rock on the right (Sandy Glacier) side, or a very steep glacier traverse on the left (Glisan Glacier) side. The Glisan looks benign in early season, but it has a moat along the cliff’s edge (melting deeper by the day) and, believe it or not, a few ‘real’ crevasses; and sometimes ice is just inches below the soft snow surface. Topspur to Ho Rock makes for a lively dayhike; the views are spectacular and you've climbed 3000' through some lovely country. Co Rock is only a couple of hundred feet higher, and is a mile away across some very rugged landscape. Climbers... proceed at your own risk (but you knew that).
Here are some views along the glacier traverse from Ho to Co (or, as some folks say, “Yo! Go Ho to Co!”).
Here’s a view of Mt St Helens, Bull Run & Lost Lakes, and Ho Rock (the small rock ‘thumb’ between the lakes), from the top of the very steep snow ridge just below Co Rock (my route Saturday came over the top of this snow ridge):
A quick glissade down the Glisan Glacier from here:
The snow along the Timberline Trail from Cathedral Ridge back to the McNeil Point cutoff trail was quite deep Saturday, and the trail was hard to follow, though the going was easy.
Happy hiking!
Peter
NOTE:
The names Ho and Co originate from old Forest Service maps, where the first two letters of the words “Hood” and “County”, in “Hood River County” lie right on top of these two summits, which are both right on the county line (which is the ridgeline here). I first heard the names many years ago, and have used them ever since.
