Devil's Rest 25-Nov-2010
Posted: November 25th, 2010, 3:44 pm
Thanksgiving is the one day when my help in the kitchen is NOT encouraged and I’m expected to have a hearty appetite (in truth, my wife is a wondrous cook when she has the time for it). Sitting on the couch wasn’t going to build an appetite and there might be an unfortunate (for me) culinary incident if I wandered into the kitchen looking for a beer. So, the obvious solution (to me at least) was to go hiking with only a single MOJO bar for sustenance, ensuring a return hours later with a ravenous hunger. Not wanting to make too much of an expedition out of this, I decided on Devils Rest – close but still interesting what with all the recent snow. I got to the Angels Rest TH at 8:15am and there were already two cars in the lot. The first dusting of snow started at the first boulder field.
It was just above freezing but fortunately there was no wind to speak of, so it didn't feel very cold. Coopey Falls hadn’t iced-up at all but spray was building some ice sculptures on branches overhanging the creek.
It was an overcast day, but not a particularly cold one (if you were dressed for it).
I passed a couple descending the trail and there were 1-2 people ahead of me, but otherwise this was one of those rare days when Angels Rest was largely deserted.
The Angels Rest trail was covered with maybe 1-2” of crusty snow up to its junction with the Foxglove Way Trail. The winter wonderland started a short ways up the Foxglove trail.
As I ascended, the snow got progressively deeper, finally leveling off at 12-18”. I didn’t have to posthole since someone had cut trail the day before. It was a good test for my new waterproof, insulated hiking boots – which worked just fine. I was really enjoying hiking in the snow except that the slightest touch of a branch would unleash a torrent of snow on me.
I continued on past Devils Rest to the really good viewpoint off the 420C trail, where, despite the overcast, I had a decent view over to Hamilton Mountain and Hardy Ridge – with Beacon Rock almost lost in the clouds and smoke.
Back at Devils Rest, I found that the Halloween decorations were still in place.
To make a loop, I turned right on the Foxglove trail to reach the Angels Rest trail E of the campsite. When I passed it, this spider was very much alive and heading somewhere with determination. How it survives on snow at 32F is a mystery.
As I got back to Angles Rest, the sun made a very weak, very brief appearance – just enough to add some highlights to the snow,
and to illuminate Silver Star in the distance.
There are, I think, many things to be thankful for, and being able to go hiking in Oregon is one of them.
It was just above freezing but fortunately there was no wind to speak of, so it didn't feel very cold. Coopey Falls hadn’t iced-up at all but spray was building some ice sculptures on branches overhanging the creek.
It was an overcast day, but not a particularly cold one (if you were dressed for it).
I passed a couple descending the trail and there were 1-2 people ahead of me, but otherwise this was one of those rare days when Angels Rest was largely deserted.
The Angels Rest trail was covered with maybe 1-2” of crusty snow up to its junction with the Foxglove Way Trail. The winter wonderland started a short ways up the Foxglove trail.
As I ascended, the snow got progressively deeper, finally leveling off at 12-18”. I didn’t have to posthole since someone had cut trail the day before. It was a good test for my new waterproof, insulated hiking boots – which worked just fine. I was really enjoying hiking in the snow except that the slightest touch of a branch would unleash a torrent of snow on me.
I continued on past Devils Rest to the really good viewpoint off the 420C trail, where, despite the overcast, I had a decent view over to Hamilton Mountain and Hardy Ridge – with Beacon Rock almost lost in the clouds and smoke.
Back at Devils Rest, I found that the Halloween decorations were still in place.
To make a loop, I turned right on the Foxglove trail to reach the Angels Rest trail E of the campsite. When I passed it, this spider was very much alive and heading somewhere with determination. How it survives on snow at 32F is a mystery.
As I got back to Angles Rest, the sun made a very weak, very brief appearance – just enough to add some highlights to the snow,
and to illuminate Silver Star in the distance.
There are, I think, many things to be thankful for, and being able to go hiking in Oregon is one of them.