Ghost Ridge, Jan 1st

If you have followed my stories, you know that Val and I like to snowshoe on Jan 1st. It’s just a good way to start a new year, and this year was no exception. Last couple of years we’ve done hikes instead because we didn’t have good snow on the ground but finally this year conditions changed. Knowing conditions were good, we went to one of my favorites places to snowshoe, the Barlow Pass area, but instead of doing the normal long loop that goes over the ridge and connects to Palmateer Point, we opted for a shorter lollipop Loop so we would time to relax afterwards, besides, we both had to return to work on Friday. From the trail head we knew it was going to be a spectacular day. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the air was cold and crisp. As we started on the PCT towards Ghost Ridge, we enjoyed the sun filtering thru the trees and illuminating the forest. It made for a perfect scenery to play a bit with my new camera. AS we move further, the trail got harder and harder as not too many people had gone since the last snowfall. Once we reached the almost unnoticeable saddle, we veered off tail and followed the ridge to our destination. At one point we came out of the forest into the open and were welcomed with a spectacular view of the hill and valley beyond and sun above us. We saw a couple of groups on the trail enjoying the same thing. From that point it was simply straight up to the top where you can turn around and enjoy the view of Mt Hood. Instead of retracing our steps, we continued on the ridge breaking new snow and then started veering to the left to head back down towards the PCT. I guess I missed when we crossed it as at some point I knew we were not where we needed to be. In fact, we were a bit below the trail so we had to find our way thru the forest, going uphill until we found the PCT again. Once there we did retrace our steps back to the parking lot where we found way more cars than what we saw when we got there. I guess a lot of people had similar ideas to celebrate the new year.



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