This Winter has seen me getting out into the snow a good deal more often than I have in past years, enjoying some snowshoeing treks in the Cascades. I had been on snowshoe adventures several times in the past and loved it, including a burly climb up Moscow Mountain in Idaho with a friend during college, but somehow each Winter season came and went with many trips to the coast, and none up to the snow. This changed when I met my partner, Corey, an avid snowshoer, cross country skier, and year-round explorer of the Cascade Range. Since December I’ve explored Ikenick Snow Park with friends and a crew of kids, trekked out to Gold Lake snow shelter to enjoy lunch around a roaring fire in the woodstove, and attempted to scale Castle Rock in spite of the road being snowed in far below the trailhead and the onset of the flu (we actually turned back on that one.) This past Saturday, we headed up the old McKenzie pass to snowshoe up past the gated road and make our way out to Proxy Falls. Often a crowded Summer destination, it is seldom visited by folks in the snow and can be a very strenuous excursion depending on conditions, thus making it a very peaceful and isolated gem of a destination this time of year.
As it turned out, we couldn’t have asked for better weather or better snow conditions. Some machine with large tires had been up the road, making nice tracks for travelling in, and the snow pack was nice and hard along the trail to the falls.Corey, his roommate and I made good time and enjoyed the breathtaking views and sunshine on our faces, which was an especially welcome wintertime treat.
No new snow had fallen in the last couple days, resulting in bare trees and rock standing out against the snowy blanket below, and some spectacular contrast in the views.
I especially enjoyed the patterns of snow over the top of the lava flows. This area of the Cascades up the McKenzie Pass is a geological wonderland, with some of the most recent expanses of lava flows in the state of Oregon, still fairly bare as they slowly fill in with trees and shrubs over the centuries. Sometimes I like to think about how these views I am seeing now are going to be completely different to folks in the future, and that makes it somehow even more special.
The sound of roaring water kept teasing us as we drew nearer and nearer to the falls, finally coming to a viewpoint looking straight out at the cascading water tumbling down to the snowy rocks below. Having grown up on the Olympic Peninsula, I have to admit that I have been often unimpressed by waterfalls in my adult life being that I was so used to seeing them. This, however, was nothing short of amazing, and it felt like a real treasure to experience in the still of Winter, at a time of the year that few others have ventured this way.
After a lunch of my homemade carob bread with almond butter looking out at the lower falls, we ventured around the loop trail to see Upper Proxy Falls. It turned out to be a shorter route to take this end of the loop back to the main road, and it was well worth it to see these falls. Both the falls and a small creek flowed into a clear pool in the bottom of a micro-basin, which had no outlet. Not unlike Blue Pool, where I ventured earlier this Winter, the water found it’s way into large air pockets in the lava rock and seeped down under the lava field.
Snowshoeing back out couldn’t have been better, being all downhill, and in such perfect snow conditions. We watched the sun descending over the mountains to the West and made it back to the car well before dark to spend the rest of the evening homebrewing and bottling with friends. It was a grand, hardy adventure and a good dose of renewal in nature. I was feeling fortunate to be in the company of these fellow hardy adventurers who don’t hesitate to get out there and take on a potentially rugged excursion. The hard work of getting there, paired with the reward of the amazing destination at the end is one of the best feelings there is. With a little more Winter, and plenty more high elevation snow ahead of us this year, I am looking forward to more adventures with a pair of snowshoes strapped to my feet.
*Photos by the amazing Corey Culp
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