After the poor weather of the last trip, a storm flew in and snowed on the Cascades. Pretty much all the thru hikers on the PCT had to bail due to too much snow. A few had to be ‘rescued’. I decided to go back to the same meadow at the intersection of the Scott Trail and the PCT, but this time I would go via the Scott trail and save about a mile. Then I would head south a few miles, crossing Opie Dildock Pass and turn around just north of the Obsidian limited-entry area. It didn’t turn out that way.
This time the weather was relatively nice. It was in the mid 60s for the high up there (t-shirt and shorts weather), with a slight breeze, clear and sunny.
I have fewer pics. I forgot to put a card in the camera (doh), and didn’t remember that my flip phone has a camera until I was miles in. So the pics are so-so quality. I got as far as 4-In-One Cone and took this pic of the South and Middle Sisters:
Going down into the bowl east of 4-In-One, I took this pic looking north. I believe that is Mt. Washington in the distance. 4-In-One is the ridge on the left:
I saw tracks in the snow. Here’s what I think was elk. I saw bear and some kind of cat, too, but that was before I remembered my phone, and I didn’t spot them on the way out. I really need to work on my camera situation. This hole is about 4″ in diameter at the top:
I did make it to the meadow, but by here the snow was 12-16″ deep. I don’t have gaiters or snowshoes, so I had to stop here. Since it was hundreds of feet higher at Opie Dildock Pass, I knew that was not an option. I sat down and had a hot lunch before heading back home.
All of these next pics were taken from the hill to the west of the meadow. It wasn’t worth the wet and cold to go down the hill. The first pic is looking down into the north end of the meadow. Looks different, doesn’t it?
This one shows Yapoah Crater on the center-right there:
The hike out was tiring but uneventful.
Here is a KMZ file of my track, both out and back again.
It was surely beautiful. The hike went well. Other than being stopped by the snow there was little to complain about. If I am going to hike in snow of any depth over a couple inches however, I’m going to need some gaiters and some decent baskets for my hiking poles. Also, when approaching a downed tree in the snow, do not step right next to it. You will break through the snow, then a little snow ‘ramp’ underneath will divert your foot, slamming your shin into the log hard enough to make you wonder if you broke it (the leg). @#$%, that hurts!