I love winter. I don't particularly care for being cold all the time, but that's what fleece is for. The gray skies don't typically bother me and any opportunity to get out and play in the snow makes even the grayest day better. I look forward to my snowshoe adventures for precisely that reason - the chance to get out and play in the snow. Quite often there are snow angels and snowball fights involved. There is almost always laughter and you can count on memories being made. Although still an enjoyable opportunity to get out in the woods, snowshoeing in the rain just doesn't pack as much fun into the day.
I have been looking forward to a return snowshoe trip to June Lake, on the south side of Mount St Helens since my last trip. I had a great time when I was there a few years ago and was excited to be sharing this next trip with my friend Holly, and our engineering intern Aaron; my sister Heidi went both trips and I always enjoy hitting the trail with her. I scheduled the date then watched the weather forecasts and read other hikers' trip reports. They were predicting gray skies with a 70% chance of rain ... following a week of warmer weather. I was hoping that rain would mean snow at the trail. We started getting a bit concerned when we were within a mile or so of the Sno-Park and had only encountered minimal snow. Our luck prevailed, however, and we had roughly 3 feet of the white stuff at the parking lot. Not exactly optimal snow levels, but satisfactory enough. We donned our packs, strapped on our snowshoes and headed out in a light rain.
There had been no recent snowfall thus the trail was fairly compacted and easy to follow. The light rain at the trailhead stayed with us and, instead of turning to snow as we climbed, just rained harder ... which served to compact the trail even more. By the time we reached the lake, we were starting to get pretty wet. We each took a few photos, then tucked ourselves in under the protection of the trees to eat lunch. We are such rugged gnarly women! The rain continued to fall, not intending to grant us a reprieve from our drenching at all. Fortunately it wasn't torrential, just steady. From lunch we headed back down the trail to the car, got out of our wet clothes and headed to Starbucks for some warm happiness in a cup.
All in all, this was a good hike, albeit a wet one. I enjoy snowshoeing this trail and would like to return to hike it in the summer some time.
These early season hikes have been planned to get me out and keep my body moving in the hopes that I won't experience all the problems I had with my hips and knees last year. I felt the exertion of this one in my thighs, which was expected. I have been a little surprised by how easily winded I am with such minimal elevation I've been facing, so will need to work on my stamina before facing the tougher trails coming up.
52 Hike Challenge; #5
Miles Hiked: 5
Elevation Gain: 500 feet
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