First snow on the Cascade Foothills

I really intended to hike either Marys Peak or Hardesty Mountain, but I looked at the NOAA snow depth the night before. Here is the snow on Hardesty – blue=snow

Here is the snow on Marys Peak

I was not prepared either mentally or gear-wise for a snow hike; they take extra effort on several fronts. Still wanting a good / long / fast hike, Ridgeline Trail hit the mark, again – but boredom is setting in.

In case you were curious, it was clear from Mt Baldy that the Cascade Foothills got their first good snow of the season. (clicking on rounded edge photos opens higher resolution)

The Route & Conditions

Repeated the exact same route as last week, but completed all 3 Spencer tops. Spring Blvd TH to Spencer Top, then down to S. Willamette TH; back to Spencer Top and down to Blanton Ridge TH; back to Spencer Top and finally down to Spring Blvd TH.

Trail conditions were near perfect. There was 1 blow-down across the trail just past Fox Hollow on the Spencer side. – An easy walk-over.

Other than that blow-down, the trail was a tad muddy, a bit of water running on / across the trail, but the forest duff ground into the path made it soft and cushioned. Human traffic was light all day long; bad weather kept folks inside maybe.

With the middle layers of the canopy empty of most leaves, the damage from last winter’s ice storm was very visible. So many trees snapped off at about 2/3 up; the section between Spencer and Ridgeline had the greatest damage. The wind / ice destroyed trees of this size.

A new friend and nursery tree 15 ft in the air

Nursery trees are dead but they give life to others and act as a nursery for young trees / plants. This one was up in the air a good 15ft, and while ferns and moss live there now, trees will follow.

A new friend caught me 2x. The second time she almost ran into me and was no more than 10 ft away. Her low fear of humans was alarming. She was eating the lichen that had fallen from the wind storm yesterday.

Another strange encounter with a runner and his dog proved that dogs are smarter than we think. I met them going opposite direction and it was very clear the dog wanted to turn around. I mentioned it to the guy and he said “she knows it’s time to turn around” … They then passed me going same direction, and he said – “she knew that for a 30 minute run I had to turn around right then”. Inner clock worked perfectly.

Data Geek Corner

• Shoes: Altra WP Lone Peak lowers
• Pack: Yar.gear Ultra 38L – full shoulder season kit
• Upper Layers: 3 (base layer, med Patagonia tech, heavy tech)
• Upper shell: no
• Trekking Poles: yes
• Approximate Times: 07:00 to 13:30
• Carbon ratio: .5 total driving – 1.5 target, 6.25 actual – 106.1 banked YTD
• Hike Type:
  • Fast Hike – as fast a pace as rational for the conditions, using trekking poles >65% of time both up and down (vs ~50% normally)
  • Pace was >3 miles / hour
  • Ascent >4,000 ft