April 3, 2005, Silver Creek, Wenatchee Natl Forest

All the snow of the past week suggested that, finally, a Snoqualmie area forest tour might actually be reasonable. Matt woke up sick, but this is a good solo tour, so I went ahead with it. There was no snow on the road to the trailhead (2400 ft), and just a couple of thin patches on the trail at first. The snow became continuous and skinable near 3000 ft, all from the last week, but I had to stick to the trail because it was not very deep (4-6"). Once to the lip of the hanging valley (3600 ft), there was more snow but still all from the last week: up to 12" in glades, and 4-6" of tree-drip compacted elsewhere. I kept skins on for a little while because the tree-drip snow was refrozen, but then removed them and started fishscaling, which was a little tricky under the densest trees but allowed for nice glides. There was still not enough snow to stray from the trail, and this led to an interesting thrash when the trail crossed to the other side Silver Creek, without any easy way to cross. It is definitely more enjoyable, not to mention efficient, to ski through the woods when there is ample snowpack. Lots of animal tracks, including dog (coyote?), and a bunny in white garb bounded across my path at one point.

When the trail re-crossed back to my side farther up the valley, I took quick snack break and considered whether it was worth continuing. Since the trail was now about to gain some elevation, I decided to go a little farther and see if the traveling got better. It did! The snowpack quickly deepened and made it possible to leave the trail, and there came to be a thin layer of new snow over the tree-drip that let my waxless skis grip well. When I reached the beginning of the meadows at valley's end, it felt like a normal winter - great, go-anywhere coverage, and trees laden with recent snow. The snow in the meadows (4800 ft) consisted of about 6" of dense, moist snow over a firmer layer, then a thick layer of dense and moist snow (didn't dig a pit and didn't look too closely). Skiing around the meadows my skis would usually stay in the top 6" of snow, making for some fine kick-and-glide, especially after the first track had been set. I skied around the meadows for a while, exploring little nooks and crannies which I'd never bothered to look into, reusing my tracks and generally just having a nice time in the winter wonderland. Although it had been snowing lightly, filtered sun came through the clouds at times, warming things up and providing some nice light on the otherwise foggy grey day. I started back down at 3:15, gliding down my up track though the meadows.

Here's a movie: