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Jean, Jennie, Jessie, Kane, Lan, Marcos and I snow-shoed in Royal
Gorge Cross-Country Ski Resort.
It was snowing. It'd been clear most of the week since the last
hike, but the snow returned for the weekend. It was 10:50am by
the time we got started, and the rain showed no signs of letting
up. It was a mild snow -- wetter than the High Country snow, but
not too bothersome when we started.
Dismounting from the snowshoes at the Wilderness Lodge
I'm not quite sure how you can fall wearing snowshoes, but Jean managed it. =)
Jessie and Marcos enjoying the fluffy white stuff.
We started down the Mirkwood trail. This is mostly downhill all
the way to the Wilderness Cafe, 4.8 kilometers later. There were
spots where there were views between the trees, but that view
was blocked by the snow storm. Where there should have been views
of majestic valleys, instead was a uniform gray mist.
We enjoyed lunch inside the crowded Wilderness Cafe. Soup of the
day was an excellent red curry lentil. After an extended stay
of almost an hour, we continued along the Kidd Lake trail.
Lan and company battling through blizzard-like conditions.
I'd learned my lesson from the last snowshoe hike, and had purchased
another layer of fleece. So I had 4 layers on top -- long wicking
underwear, two fleece layers, and a waterproof/breathable shell.
My body felt comfortably warm. I'd also bought a fleece bottom,
but thought I would be too hot so it stayed in my pack the whole
time. My balaclava was serving me well, but I could have used
a thicker one for even better insulation against the growing cold.
I was much happier with my snowshoes this time; I found that if
I turn my feet outwards before strapping on the bindings, my heels
don't click.
The Kidd Lake trail is slightly uphill. Eventually we came to
intersection 34, where we continued along the Devil's Outlook
trail to the warming hut. The 7 of us packed into hut to warm
up. By this time the snow had started to fall a bit harder, it
was getting colder, and most of us were wet in various places.
For me, it was still my shoes -- the boot and shoe spray wasn't
working. Lan emptied my Nalgene bottle into the kettle and started
the water boiling. We made hot tea (I should have brought some
hot chocolate) before Kane and I went off to visit Bird's Rest.
Sipping tea in the warming hut.
The remainder of the group headed back on the Wiesel trail. Kane
and I went along the 1-kilometer Bird's Rest loop. Soon we were
standing on the edge of the Lower Cascade Lake. Again, what would
have been a great view was marred by a gray mist. In addition,
we were exposed to strong winds and the accompanying wind-blown
snow. Using the radio we told the others, who were now about 15
minutes ahead of us, that we were heading their way.
As we retraced our steps back to the warming hut, we saw our snowshoe
prints disappearing in the constant snowfall. This can be a bit
disconcerting when the trail isn't completely obvious. But eventually
we made it up to the warming hut and started down the Wiesel trail.
30 or 40 minutes later, we caught up to the others.
We headed down Deborah's Delight, back to the Wilderness Lodge
and Cafe. After a brief stop, we started up the Yuba trail, which
would take us back to the Summit Station. We slowly drifted apart.
Kane, Lan, and Jennie made it back to the lodge as Jean, Jessie,
Marcos and I made it to the top of the Yuba Hill lift. Jean decided
she wouldn't be able to make the final kilometer before 5pm (Royal
Gorge closing time), so she and Jessie hopped onto a snowmobile
back, leaving Marcos and I still on the trail. We made it back
just at 5pm, and the snow was still falling.
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