The weather in the Portland area Wednesday, March 31, 2010 looked slightly more promising than the past few days, so I decided to risk a trip to Mount Hood to snowshoe nearby. Avalanche danger was still high so there was no question of climbing it (anyway I already summited last summer) but I planned to climb from Timberline Lodge to Silcox Hut, and then go down to Government Camp and so something around there. When I saw chains were required on Timberline Road, I abandoned the former plan and figured I'd try to find something around Government Camp. I stopped at the Sno-Park next to the Summit Ski Area.
The shop sold me a snow park pass for $5 (a $2 surcharge over the $3 price) and the extra $2 was worth it because when I asked about snowshoe routes they gave me a small map and told me of the good routes leaving from there, including the Alpine Trail which goes to Timberline Lodge. This wasn't in my guidebook, and it was absolutely the ideal trail for me. So much better to snowshoe to the lodge than drive there!
I was supposed to go left apparently here, but there was no real route (it must have been covered by recent snow), so I just headed up the Bumble Bee ski run, which wasn't really groomed anyway (nor were the lifts running). Summit Ski Area is the tiniest resort I've seen, with one lift and only two short runs. I'd soon find out people end up skiing down here from Timberline, though.
Doesn't really look like a groomed ski run, does it? There was plenty of powder snow, in any case!
Looking back down at the base.
The snow was a lot deeper and fluffier than Shasta, and I thought it best to stop and put on my gaiters, which turned out to be a great idea. I did that here at the top of the lift; you can see the sign for the Alpine Trail here too. I mostly tried to say in snowboard tracks to keep out of the deepest snow.
The Alpine Trail, mostly used by snowboarders going down from Timberline, so I had to watch out for them. Everyone was really nice.
A winter wonderland in March. Just stunning scenery.
Near the top of the Alpine Trail, I ran into a couple guys making a ramp out of the snow so they could practice tricks. When I came down later they were bored with that and were digging a snow cave instead. Unfortunately you can't really make either them or their ramp (which was to the right) out in this picture.
Up ahead there was a sign saying the path to the left leads to the Lodge. However that didn't make sense given my crude map (and indeed it would have been a longer way that I took, which was already less than optimal), and also there were no tracks at all going that way, so despite missing out the chance to be all alone in virgin snow, it seemed safer and easier to go right.
Soon I reached the boundary with the Timberline ski resort. I didn't realize I had been right next to the groomed trails! Now my only real option was to follow the groomed trails up to the lodge.
This turned out to be a blue run named Kruser. It looked pretty flat except for a few steep sections, and was quite long.
A little further up, another trail heading off. This turns out to be the Glade Trail, as I found out from a cross country skier coming up it with his dog (when I was going down) .
I hugged the boundary of the groomed area (on the left side going up; this is looking down) which seemed the safest place to avoid the skiers and snowboarders. Further left (facing up) there was powder and terrain features which were popular, so I needed to stay right on the boundary.
Another shot looking down.
Looking up. Surprisingly the sun came out for a while, and it got quite warm. I was going up in just a tshirt from partway up the Alpine Trail until the top. I was hoping the clouds would part and I could see the upper mountain, but that seemed too much to hope for....
But lo and behold, they did start to break up!
I was up there just last summer (you can see my trip report with pictures), but it looks even more spectacular with all this snow.
I took tons of pictures of the mountain, so forgive the repetition. It was so incredible.
The ski lifts going up to the Palmer Glacier. The Silcox Hut is to the right, and I was thinking of still hiking to it, but decided against it.
The top of the Stormin' Norman lift.
I still had to traverse a bit to get to the lodge, but the advantage was that I got to take shots of the upper mountain from several angles.
This one I especially like, framed by the trees.
My timing was perfect, because the weather now started to deteriorate again.
I finally manged to see the lodge, where we stayed last summer, but decided against going all the way there, since a storm was blowing in and I didn't know how bad it would be. It seemed prudent to start heading down.
I was walking under the Magic Mile lift for a bit, and people would shout down hello at me.
One last look at the mountain.
I headed back down the groomed run, and took the exit to the Alpine Trail. This is looking back up, at that confusing junction again. I'll have to figure out where that trail to the left really goes.
There was some heavy snow for a while.
Finally I got back to Government Camp.
The weather improved again, but stayed variable the rest of the day, and the drive home was a mix of sun, clouds, rain, and even heavy rain and small hail.
A small snow play area at the base.
Here's where I went and you can see how far I would still have had to go to reach the summit (zoom in for details!). The hike was about 6.5 miles roundtrip and took 3:42. An absolutely fantastic day.
