SummitPost.org

Anyone been up there in the last week? Snowshoes for the upper part or not?
I figure the snow's nice and consolidated, but I figured that on Hood last weekend and was post holing all over the place.....any info. is much appreciated...
Thanks! amy

Can't say for sure, as it's been a couple of weeks since I've been, but I'd say the chances of postholing snow are still pretty good. Was a bit deep when I was there,(this up on the ridge, the Defiance trail), and so I stopped in the rocks and had lunch and bailed. Was trying to follow snowshoe tracks in fact, but still sunk through quite a bit.
Maybe if you're there early, when the snow is harder, you'd have better luck. Take snowshoes to be on the safer side.
Good hiking!

thanks....that was my hunch too. I'll throw them on my pack ..

I think the trail is closed for the season. But I'm sure some people go anyway.

billisfree wrote:I think the trail is closed for the season. But I'm sure some people go anyway.

Why do you think that? I,(and many others), was just on it 2 weeks ago. . .

Because I went last spring (In March) and encountered a sign:

TRAIL CLOSED FOR THE SEASON

Since I got lost on this trail the year before... I wasn't about to risk the
ultimate shaming if I ignored the sign and got myself in trouble again.

Well, now that you mentioned it's open, I'll give it a try this week.

<Evil Grin>

There weren't any 'closed' signs on the trailhead markers. We took Starvation Ridge up, easy going, good trail conditions. Past Warren Lake, there was quite a bit of snow. Some deeper stuff and no clear trail to the top past the junction of the Starvation Ridge Trail and the main Defiance trail. We picked a path of least resistance through the trees with a bit of postholing for some of us and knew we'd cross the road eventually.Took the Defiance trail back down...some slick icy crap when you just descend into the tree line on that trail. About 400 to 500 ft. below that point, no snow, great trail conditions....except that it's Defiance and your thighs are on fire by the time you reach the waterfalls at the end

Good for you for getting up there!
Yeah, I do remember coming down a few weeks ago, and hitting some of those slick spots in the shady, steeper sections. Slow going, but not too bad. And, as you mentioned, clear-sailing once you get past that.
How was the view from the top? How 'bout from that rocky ridge(on the Defiance side), coming down? Nice views, eh?

Gook hiking!

I never saw any road, much less, another trail when I was up there.
I guess I had a lot more snow then.

Were the trail ribbons still there?

amochka wrote:There weren't any 'closed' signs on the trailhead markers. We took Starvation Ridge up, easy going, good trail conditions. Past Warren Lake, there was quite a bit of snow. Some deeper stuff and no clear trail to the top past the junction of the Starvation Ridge Trail and the main Defiance trail. We picked a path of least resistance through the trees with a bit of postholing for some of us and knew we'd cross the road eventually.Took the Defiance trail back down...some slick icy crap when you just descend into the tree line on that trail. About 400 to 500 ft. below that point, no snow, great trail conditions....except that it's Defiance and your thighs are on fire by the time you reach the waterfalls at the end

Did the same loop on Sunday, with a well-beaten footpath (not the early bird this weekend). A couple large groups of Mazamas up there before us. I did see some ribbon here and there. We took snowshoes but didn't use them. There will be new snow up there now though. And yes, definitely a thigh/knee-burner.