Arriving at the TH off the Loop Hwy, at 2100' elevation I was slightly discouraged by the snow in the parking area but once just a few feet up the trail and away from the creek, the snow was gone. There was a skiff more at the next creek crossing at 2700' but again, once just a few dozen yards up, no snow. It seems the colder air draining down the canyons conspires to prevent the snow from melting as fast as on the slopes.
My late start (1:10) gave me a turn-around time of 3:40 to make it back by the last of twilight but I still got 11.4 miles RT out of the adventure.
There are about 10 small trees, 8" to 12" diameter across the trail, most past mile 3, and two big ones in the first mile or so:
2 1/2' to 3' dia. fir:
2 1/2' to 3' dia. pine:
There's a nice viewpoint about three miles in. This would be much better on a clear day and much earlier in the day for better lighting. I guess I will just have to go back:
Here's a view of the trail at 3,800' elevation:
I took a turn onto an old logging road 4 miles in and that didn't turn out so well. The map shows the trail in the middle of the ridge but it's not there, causing me to have to bushwhack all the back across the ridge through some really bad blowdown. This is a forest fire just waiting to happen:
Once back on the correct trail, I continued but never ran into any snow - even at 4100':
By the time I got back to the view point at the three mile mark, Hood presented a different view than before:
Another great day in the woods.
dn
