[pct-l] Mt. Hood snow on PCT, Aug 1

[rogercar@pacifier.com (Roger Carpenter)]

I just returned from Mt. Hood today, where I hiked from Timberline Lodge to
Paradise Park, about 4 miles northbound from Timberline.  Generally, I found
snow from the 6000' level at Timberline down to 5500'.  Still, I was able to
get through with relatively little trouble, thanks to short intervals of
trail that were not snowbound.  The worst area was a .5 mile stretch near
the Hidden Lake Trail junction, which is in dense forest cover (see map G1,
if you are interested).  The snow was considerably more solid in that area,
although melting at a robust pace due to the warm weather.  The mounds of
snow seem to be 4' high or less with occasional exceptions.  Below 5500' and
the rest of the way northbound to Zigzag Canyon and to the Paradise Park
trail junction, the trail was essentially snow-free.  I found intermittent
snowfields again at 5600' in Paradise Park.

I plan on leaving sometime between Aug 6 and 10 on a Mt. Hood to Canada
hike, and I don't think I will have any big trouble with snow until I get to
Mt. Adams or Goat Rocks wilderness.  I expect that by Aug 18 a lot of snow
will melt in Washington between now and then.
Roger Carpenter
P.O. Box 651 
Vancouver, WA  98666
(360) 696-1746

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