Benson Plateau 10-Jan-2010
Posted: January 10th, 2010, 7:45 pm
I got curious about snow conditions on the Benson Plateau and hiked up there on the PCT, connecting to it out of Herman Creek on the 406 trail. It was no surprise that all the trails from Herman Creek to the PCT just below 1200’ were completely free of snow.
The surprise came shortly after I started up the PCT itself – soon almost everything was coated in ice. For the next 2000’ or so, the trail was pretty much pine needles covered with ice. I had microspikes but, by being careful where and how I stepped, didn’t need to use them (but still good to have them along).
But as I climbed higher, the ice coating on the leaves and twigs started to abate,
so by the time I reached the junction of the PCT and Trail 405B at around 4000’, there was no snow or ice.
My guess is that this strangeness is the result of the inversion that brought freezing rain to the Gorge last week. If today’s temperature hadn’t been in the low 30’s, I would have thought it was June on the plateau. It’s going to take some serious low altitude snow storms to make up for such a massive snow deficit. The clouds kept coming and going all day, mostly obscuring the views, but Tanner Ridge and Mt. Defiance did make a brief appearance.
But any lack of views was fully compensated for by all of the magical ways that ice can coat things.
Sadly, by the time I started down, temperatures had started rising, and below 2400’, all the little ice sculptures started melting and falling out of the trees. Of course, they were falling on me – but no worries – nothing could distract from what was an unexpectedly special day for a hike.
The surprise came shortly after I started up the PCT itself – soon almost everything was coated in ice. For the next 2000’ or so, the trail was pretty much pine needles covered with ice. I had microspikes but, by being careful where and how I stepped, didn’t need to use them (but still good to have them along).
But as I climbed higher, the ice coating on the leaves and twigs started to abate,
so by the time I reached the junction of the PCT and Trail 405B at around 4000’, there was no snow or ice.
My guess is that this strangeness is the result of the inversion that brought freezing rain to the Gorge last week. If today’s temperature hadn’t been in the low 30’s, I would have thought it was June on the plateau. It’s going to take some serious low altitude snow storms to make up for such a massive snow deficit. The clouds kept coming and going all day, mostly obscuring the views, but Tanner Ridge and Mt. Defiance did make a brief appearance.
But any lack of views was fully compensated for by all of the magical ways that ice can coat things.
Sadly, by the time I started down, temperatures had started rising, and below 2400’, all the little ice sculptures started melting and falling out of the trees. Of course, they were falling on me – but no worries – nothing could distract from what was an unexpectedly special day for a hike.