Ghost Ridge, Palmateer Point, Devil’s Half Acre loop, Jan 28th

Seems like this winter is dropping all the snow we didn’t get the last couple of years. Right before this snowshoe, a report stated that we were already over 140% of the normal snowpack for the time of year. That statement was a song to my ears and tie to head out into the backcountry and do one of my favorite loops. We started from Barlow Pass heading towards Ghost Ridge. This first part of the route has gotten discovered by a lot of people is it’s more normal now to see people heading that way, and that’s no surprise. Just the view of Mt Hood you get from the top is reason enough to go there, even if it’s a short out and back (read the post from Dec 18th).

The day was not very stellar in terms of cloud cover so we made a quick stop for a picture or two before starting the fun part of this loop. Right after the highest point of Ghost ride, we continued south breaking new snow. The lack of noise and snow up to our knees made it hard but fun at the same time. My original plan was to do a longer loop but decided instead to just continue the ridge until the first saddle. By then we were navigating in the thick of the forest avoiding tree wells and deep pockets of snow. From the saddle, we made a shar left and started going downhill, quickly. We had to do a lot of switchbacks to make the slope not as steep but still it was a quick route back down to the PCT. We found ourselves negotiating a small creek which opened some challenges but finally we got to the PCT. After regrouping, we had two options, follow the trail back to the junction with the trail to upper twin lakes and connect from there to Palmateer Point or just go thru the forest and finding our way. The common consensus was the later so we made a straight line thru the forest looking for the ridge that goes to Palmateer point. This route is a bit difficult as the forest doesn’t open enough for you to see the slope. The only way is to make the best educated guess as you head towards the destination knowing that you’ll either get there or find the ridge line. At some point, we saw the opening to out right and headed for it. Soon after that, we were plowing thru very deep snow going to our second destination on the top of Palmateer Point. The sky was grey and the sun hiding behind the clouds so we didn’t stay there too long. Even the views of Hood were obscured by the clouds. To head down, instead of taking the normal way around it, we headed north that takes you down on a very long and steep downhill. Some of us did it skiing down on our snowshoes while others decided to sit down and glissade their way. I was ahead but could easily make were everyone else was as I heard the laughs and yells as they gained speed coming down the slope. Towards the bottom it got a bit more complicated as I knew we were heading for a creek but didn’t remember how deep it could be or where to cross. AS if by design, we came out of the forest right next to a bridge that crosses the creek and head to the Devil’s Half Acre Camp ground. Even I was surprised about the accuracy of getting there from the slope. WE traversed the campground taking pictures of the creek and ice crystals on pine branches before starting our last push back to the parking lot. This last portion is quite surprising to most, not because of the views or scenery but because is mostly uphill. That’s when you realize how far down you came from Palmateer Point. Finally, we made it back to the parking area tired but happy. It was a good day

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