Snowshoeing at Snoqualmie Pass.

The weather forecast earlier this week looked to be pretty nice, so Gail and I decided that we'd get out the snowshoes again and head up to Snoqualmie Pass.  The Forest Service conducts ranger lead hikes the only one that was open was at 10am with a group of teenagers.  So we signed up and hoped for good weather. 

We got up this morning and were greeted with blue skies and sunshine.  Our drive to the Pass was uneventful, so we got there about an hour before the hike was to begin.  We hung around enjoying the sunshine and when it got to snowshoeing, we were off.  There was a group of about a dozen or so teenagers, possibly an extended family, so the ranger was constantly trying to talk over them and get their attention.  They did a great job of blazing a trail, though.

With the activity and the sunshine, we were peeling off layers and literally steaming in the cool mountain air.   We started where the Pacific Crest Trail crosses I-90 and headed into the woods.  Pat, our guide, said that it was nice hiking through the woods this time of year because you can walk anywhere, not just where the trail is.  In fact, we were walking about 8 feet above a large patch of Devil's Club (a nasty plant with very long spikes).  We made about a mile loop, stopping to learn about Hemlocks, Pileated Woodpeckers, Lungwort and a bunch of other forest stuff. 

After we returned to the starting point, we said goodbye to the rest of the party and headed back into the woods.  Since we had our own gear, we didn't have a time restriction and could just head off on our own.  We saw about a dozen other people wandering around as well as it's a pretty popular area to snowshoe.

Just to give you an idea of how deep the snow is, the building you see in the picture is an outhouse.  And that's with a snowpack that's a bit less than normal. 

Finally, as we were playing with the GPS, we found out that we could get a screenshot.  So we logged our route and took a screenshot of  where we went.  The dotted lines are actual trails (in the summer), the purple line is where we walked.  According to the GPS, we walked 2.3 miles with a total elevation gain/loss of 800 ft. 

The last day of Winter was gorgeous here in the Northwest, and we had a wonderful time.