Pocket Creek, 11/28/10

I've been itching to get out ever since flakes started dumping last month on Mount Hood. But Brad's a snow snob and won't go before there's enough to cover the rocks and grass and such - what a wienie. We finally decided to make the drive this weekend - WOOHOO!!

Skiing is a completely weather-dependent sport, and you really never know what it will be like until you get there. You can check the forecast and the resort snow conditions and all that, but it's really a crap shoot. We took the gamble Sunday and won... we won BIG!

Because we're super cheap (and resorts are getting way too expensive), we've been doing a lot more cross-country skiing. We own our gear, so it's just gas money and food on the way home. There are other upsides too: solitude, the satisfaction of earning your turns, untracked snow, lots of sweat...

Lindsey, Sean, Brad and I loaded up the studded, four-wheel drive and headed to the Pocket Creek trail head on Highway 35, just past the Mt. Hood Meadows Hood River Meadows parking lot. The weather was cloudy and snowy... until we turned onto Highway 35 and started around the mountain. Blue sky!!

We chose Pocket Creek because half of the loop is on a road, where we knew the early-season snow conditions would be better. We planned to stick to the open spots with ample snow coverage. We climbed up and up and up to the top of the loop:
Time for a snack break:
But where's Brad?? He found some fresh powder to ski down. Let's all follow him into the trees!

The snow was AMAZING! There were about 5-6 inches of fresh, dry powder on top of packed powder. And no one else had been out in the trees that day - first tracks!! I couldn't stop smiling as I bombed down the hills in my tele stance and cruised through the trees. Simply spectacular.

But then we got a little lost. We knew where we were and where we needed to be, but getting from Point A to Point B was a little unclear (there were several large creeks in between us and the car). After wandering around for a while and consulting the map and compass, we decided to just hoof it back up to find the trail we knew was up there somewhere. (We all had a good laugh because this was far from the first time we'd all been lost in the woods together!)

I pointed my skis up toward a hill I knew ran next to the trail (the other half of the loop that isn't on the road). After a while I spotted tracks... we were saved! I snapped a couple shots of the beauty while I waited for my friends to catch up:
Here they come, emerging from the woods!
YAY!!
We continued uphill to the road and then enjoyed the ride down. Had to stop and get a picture of the mountain. Not a bad view, huh?
And we couldn't resist some booger-shot self portraits:
Back at the trail head... Lindsey with her brand-new skis, boots and bindings:
A quick group shot before heading home. We didn't have to work very hard for those smiles... we couldn't stop :)
Then we spent 4 hours in the car on the way home. Bad, bad, bad holiday traffic. It was still worth it!!

:)