July 6, 2008, Mt. Jefferson North Side

We decided to escape the combustible holiday weekend in order to check out Jefferson Park, a great summer backpacking destination on the north side of Mt. Jefferson.  The entrance road is now clear of snow to within a few hundred feet of the Whitewater trailhead.  The route from there is, however, a mix of dry trail interspersed with stetches of snow that caused us to lose the way for spells, only to conveniently stumble across it again whenever we were beginning to doubt ourselves.

Continuous skinning/skiing is not really possible until after the crossing of Whitewater Creek, about four miles in.  From there, however, the snowpack is deep, and Jefferson Park is nicely buried under several feet of snow aside from the tree islands, which make for convenient camping spots.

Our plans were somewhat thwarted by the February-style weather that rolled through all day on Saturday, but we did make it out of the tent for a few hours in order to circumnavigate Jefferson Park, and found it to be seemingly empty aside from two other campers.

Somewhat disillusioned, we hit the sack under a cold, dense mist on Saturday night.  We slept in Sunday morning, happily awakening to perfect bluebird skies.  There was enough time for a hike up the very inviting snowfield beneath Jefferson Park Glacier.  The route passes through the trees briefly, and then quickly opens up to nice rolling ski slopes, which steepen towards the top.  The ski down was great, with only minor sun-cupping and pleasant sun-softened snow above a very firm base.  Jefferson Park Glacier looks enticing for those who wouldn't mind some crevasse travel.  Plenty of other great ski lines are still visible around the entire area, including north-facing slopes of Mt. Jefferson and the area around Park Butte.