but by the turnoff to the trail up the west side of the ridge, the snow had deepened to 6” or better.
I had planned to start trying the snowshoes on the west side trail but two people ahead of me (never seen) were doing such a good job of postholing and packing a trail that I ended-up following them and carrying the shoes all the way to the ridge crest. The winter wonderland effect, and the snow depth, just kept increasing as I climbed toward the ridge.
Along the way I came across this little guy at the bottom of one of the postholes in the middle of the trail. Why he would want to wander around in the snow is beyond me - I thought they hibernated in the winter. Leaving him in a posthole obviously wouldn’t do, so I put him under some snow-free tree roots beside the trail.
By the time I crested the ridge, it was becoming increasingly obvious that the weather wasn’t going to clear any time soon. It was foggy (I was climbing into a cloud) with visibility less than 100’. For time to time it would snow or sleet a bit.
This is the same scene (taken a little closer to the trees and rock outcropping) back on November 3rd. At that time it was clear and sunny but the wind was howling to the point where it was hard to stand. Fortunately this time the wind was light, so wind chill wasn’t a big factor.
The posthole trail headed down the east side of the ridge and I strapped on the snowshoes to head for Phlox Point. The use trail along the ridge ducks and weaves through a lot of vegetation before breaking free of the trees further N on the ridge. In the summer this use trail isn’t too hard to follow through the brush but a 2-4’ covering of new SOFT snow had pretty much obliterated most evidence of it.
The expression “blanket of snow” really seems to apply to this snow-covered tree.
After a lot of ducking and weaving, and more than a little routefinding, I broke out of the brush onto the open ridge. Even with the snowshoes, breaking trail through brush covered with soft snow had been a struggle and I was looking forward to finding more compact snow on the exposed ridge. Not so. Apparently there hadn’t been enough consolidating cold/warm cycles or rain or really strong winds to pack the snow on the ridge so, again, the snowshoes were essential.
Finally the “summit” of Phlox Point…
where it had been windy, but apparently not enough to pack the snow.
As I made my way back down the ridge, I passed five folks who were following my trail up - following a trail beaten down by five sets of snowshoes was a joy. I made a loop by heading down the eastside trail and then returning around the ridge along the road. Needless to say, the sky was socked in until just before I reached the car - then the clouds parted, the sun came out (briefly), and the snow covered valleys and peaks on the Oregon side of the Gorge were mightily illuminated.
Another good hike - about half of it requiring snowshoes (or someone willing to posthole for you). There’s probably room now for that one last helping of leftovers…
