Today’s hike had no real objective – at least not when I started. Originally I was thinking of heading up Burnt Granite from the 4650 road and maybe take it up to where it meets the 270 spur and then turn around. I started thinking about it as I was nearing the 4650 junction on the 4670 road, and given the road conditions, I thought I could make it close to the 4670-210 spur. From there, I could make it up to the Burnt Granite trail saving over 2 miles of hiking – this is the same route Kirk and I did a couple of months ago when I was “fixing” my trail cam that is at the second rockslide. From there, I was hoping we could make it up to Mt Lowe – I had done that trip last year as well. There is a nice view from the top of Mt Lowe – I didn’t have snowshoes so I wasn’t sure we could make it but I thought it was worth a shot.

We drove up the 4670 road past the 4650 junction and basically made it to the 210 spur – there was really no snow at all until just before the 210 junction – I parked at a wide spot – this is what the 4670 road looked like at that point (you can see the 210 junction to the right):

We suited up and headed up the 210 road. The snow immediately got pretty deep for a bit before getting a bit better. When we got next to Tarzan Springs the road was bare, which I thought was kind of weird – wonder if the spring keeps it a little warmer or something? Anyway, we continued up the road and soon found the junction that headed north. Once we got back into the trees, the snow mostly disappeared. There were a few patches here and there but it was mostly bare ground except for a few more open areas.

When we got close to the junction with the Burnt Granite trail, the snow got deeper pretty quickly. We were able to make it thru it without too much difficulty. Most of the snow was pretty well compacted, so we weren’t sinking too far. We shortly got to the junction with the Tarzan Springs trail where the snow was close to two feet deep:

At the junction we took a left and headed south. Once we got back into more wooded parts of the trail, the snow pretty much disappeared like it had down below. The area at the junction has smaller trees and is pretty level and a bit more open, so the snow is usually deeper in there.

It wasn’t too long before we got to the second rockslide. Surprisingly, there was no snow here.

Originally I thought we could have lunch here but it was still kind of early so we continued up the trail. When we got to the third rockslide, we started to get more snow:

The going got a bit tougher at this point since we were encountering more consistent snow but I decided to keep going. The snow (for the most part) was still pretty compacted – unless you happen to step on a hidden log and fall thru the snow next to it.

As we progressed down the trail, the snow seemed to ease a bit. We soon got near the end of the trail near the end of the 6310-270 spur road and I noticed that there was some fresh snow in the trees:

We had a bit of precipitation the night before – I’m wondering if that fell as snow up here?

We continued up until we got to the vision quest pits – I thought this would be a good place to have lunch since it was in the sun and it has a good view:

Thor wasn’t quite so sure as he doesn’t really like the big rocks anymore. I finally got him on the rocks and we had lunch. A weird thing happened – I pulled out one of my protein bars and it slipped out of my hand and fell perfectly down into the rocks. I could barely see it but I couldn’t get my hand down in to retrieve it, so I guess it is stuck there forever now. Maybe some pika or something will chew off the wrapper and have some goodies for the winter…..

After lunch, we packed up and continued our trip south. We soon got to the 6310-270 spur road. The beginning was pretty easy but then we started running unto more snow on the road:

Some places we could walk around the snowdrifts, other places we had to walk thru them. The snow continued to be (for the most part) pretty well compacted so although it was tougher than just hiking the road, it wasn’t too bad. We eventually made it to the 6310 road and walked up the road to the 040 spur that the Rho Ridge trail takes off from. The snow on the 040 spur was pretty deep – I had a difficult time figuring out where the trail took off from – some of the spots the snow was at least 3 feet deep. I found the spot where the trail takes off and the beginning was pretty rough, but we soon got back into more wooded areas and the snow mostly disappeared again.

When we got back into a rocky area, I noticed something I don’t ever recall seeing before – it was near a tree that is leaning over the trail – it is a pretty long section of old phone line right next to the trail:

We continued up the trail – there were a couple of spots where the snow got pretty deep and I was scratching my head where the trail actually went, but it was soon apparent where it was. The trail went from bare ground to snow 2-3′ deep.

At one point, this interesting shot appeared – a misty/foggy area – I think it was just the sunlight melting the recent snow – but I thought it was a cool image:

We continued on and the going continued to get tougher, with the snow becoming more regular (and deeper). With no snowshoes, it was pretty exhausting, but I really wanted to get up to Mt Lowe, so we kept going.

When we finally got to the last switchback up to the lookout, I noticed what appeared to be snowshoe tracks – I hadn’t seen them down lower, and I’m not 100% sure that is what they were since they were kind of old, but they sure looked like snowshoe tracks to me – or maybe it was Bigfoot!

The tracks headed up steeper than the trail, although you couldn’t see the “regular” trail on the east side of the hill since the snow was so deep. We followed the snowshoe tracks and were soon on top of Mt Lowe. Since I was supposed to get back, and it had taken longer than I expected to get up here (due to all the snow), we didn’t stay too long, but I did get a few good pictures:

Schreiner Peak from Mt Lowe

Peakfinder of the Bull of the Woods Ridge, including Schreiner Peak:

After a very quick stay at the top of Mt Lowe, we headed back down. While the trip back down was a bit easier than the trip up due to it mostly being downhill and that I had also broken some trail, it was still rather difficult. When we got to the area where the 4670-220 spur road gets near the trail, I had to stop to take a picture of this area. The old trail info sheets reference “Junction old Lowe Creek Trail, abandoned” about a tenth of a mile from the side trail to the top of Mt Lowe. I didn’t measure it, but I’m pretty sure this is the junction they are referring to – there is a trail sign right here and I’ve learned that usually means a trail junction is nearby – it sure looks like some kind of trail:

We continued down the trail and soon got back to the 6310 road and headed back down the 270 spur. At some point along this road, we must have gotten cell reception (and I must have forgotten to put my phone in airplane mode) because I got a couple of text messages. One of them was from Gail telling me plans had changed and I was on my own for dinner – so I didn’t need to get back as quickly as I had planned to. I kind of wish I had known that when I was up on Mt Lowe – I would have spent more time up there. No matter – it was still a beautiful day and I was enjoying my time in the woods.

We soon got back onto the Burnt Granite trail and it wasn’t too long before we got back to the second rockslide where I had accidentally left my folding saw on the way up. I found that, and had to take a few more pictures since the clouds had cleared up quite a bit and Olallie Butte and Mt Jefferson were a lot clearer:

Here is a Peakfinder annotated shot from a similar vantage point:

Since I wasn’t in a rush to get back any longer, we stayed for a few minutes to just enjoy the view. After a few minutes of a glorious view, we continued down the trail – it did not take too long before we were back at the truck.

It was a bit of a slog at times in the deep snow, but it was a really, really nice way to spend the first full day of spring!