[pct-l] Oregon Snow Conditions to Mile 1863

[Ryan Weidert]

Hey all,
     There are only a few patches of snow from Hwy 140 (mile 1780, Fish
Lake Resort) until mile 1800 at the start of the ridgeline ending in Devils
Peak (mile 1806). Once on the ridge, the snow patches become more numerous,
however flat and easy to cross. At mile 1803, (at the Divide Trail
junction) the trail crosses a north slope where the snow becomes steep and
more difficult. From 1803 to 1806 there are exposed sections of long snow
fields with long slides if one were to fall, however the snow is soft and
usually easy to make good steps. Once to Devils Peak, one must glisade or
shoe ski down the quite steep slope and go about a half mile down before
the trail is visible. A GPS is very handy here for route finding. Snow
patches become fewer as you lose elevation and don't cover the trail again
until around mile 1820. Around mile 1825, the snow begins to become solid
fields within the trees, making navigation very hard, but travel across
them is fairly easy if you know where to head. The solid fields become
patches as you near the Crater Lake Highway and continue until the Rim
Trail cutoff. There is about 1.5 miles of solid snow on the trail up to the
rim. Along the first few miles of the rim, large, steep faced snow drifts
make travel difficult. Nearing the Wizard Island lookout the snow turns
into one more than less continuous snow field until a little before the
equestrian/hiker PCT junction. Good views but slow going. Down and across
the flats until 2 miles past Highway 138 is snow free. Once you climb back
to about 6000 ft the snow returns. The snow is nearly continuous from mile
1856 until 1864 at the Howlock Trail junction where I got off trail. For
the first few miles the snow is steep, hard drifts interconnected and
shaded by the trees. There is a brief sloped snow field section just after
the Mt. Thielsen trail junction, however the solid hard snow fields within
the trees resume shortly after. It looks like an avalanche came off the
west side of Thielsen sometime this past season. Thielsen Creek is covered
in snow and no flowing water was seen since the few creeks heading up to
the Crater Lake rim. A little ways after the creek, the terrain becomes
quite steep and more consequential if a fall happened. Judging by the
melted areas around trees, the snow is 3-6 feet deep still. Even the large,
open, sunny meadow at the Howlock Trail Junction is covered in at least a
few feet of snow. I can only imagine the snow continues for about another
10-15 miles after where I got off, as the elevation remains above 6000 ft.
Hopefully it will melt out in a few more weeks. It took me 8 hours to
travel 10 miles across this snow area by Mt. Thielsen.

Cheers
Tuna Helper.