July 4, 2010, Howlock Mtn, Southern Oregon

Brenda and I took our annual 4th of July pilgrimage to visit my folks in Roseburg, which always inclues the obligatory ski around the Mt Thielsen area. This time of year we like to access the snow from the Tipsoo Pk trailhead at the end of Cinnamon Butte road at around 6400€™. It€™s a short hike through the nicely spaced mtn hemlock to the snow, then a short skin up to the open meadows in the saddle between Tipsoo Pk and Howlock Mtn. This is the high pt of the PCT in Oregon at 7600€™, and I€™ve been messing around up here since I was a teenager. Typically it€™s a race against the hoards of mosquitoes until we gain the breeze of the open alpine. In the many years we€™ve been spending the 4th in this area last year was the worst for snow. We mostly hiked around with our skis on our backs. This year was by far the best.

The first indication that it would be a good day was getting the car stuck in a snow patch about a mile before the TH. There€™s never snow at this elevation in July. We dug and spun the tires for a while, but soon left the car stuck until we returned. A short hike up the road and we were skinning. Unbelievable. Skinning at 6400€™, and no mosquitoes once we hit the snow. We headed for the Howlock Mtn ridge south of Tipsoo Pk to ski the bowls on the east side of the crest. There€™s some nice terrain back there that few people visit, and this year it was filled in so well. Views to the south as far as Shasta and north past the Sisters. Mt Bailey has more snow than I€™ve ever seen this time of year.

After a few runs we skied out on continuous snow mostly downhill to the trailhead. The skiing through the forest had never been this easy, as we€™re usually screwing around trying to connect patches most of the way down. The snow at the car had melted and softened enough by then that we were out in a few minutes. Yesterday I got an e-mail from my mom sayin she had quite the scare that morning. Seems the sheriff had called looking for relatives of Mike and Brenda Metz. After a heart stopping second he explained that a deputy had noticed the car stuck in the snow, and wanted to check before he went back up to investigate. Not sure what a deputy would be doing driving to the end of that road. Weird.