See Snow Bear Photoset • chumley • 2018-02-20 • HikeArizona.COM

See Snow Bear, AZ

	2018-02-20
	15 by chumley

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See Snow Bear, AZ

Snowshoeing	12.93 Miles	2,468 AEG

Snowshoeing	12.93 Miles	6 Hrs 29 Mns	2.18 mph
	2,468 ft AEG

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See Canyon Trail #184

Bear Canyon Lake Trail #112

General Crook Trail #140 - Apache SitgreavesNF

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Despite the latest storm being a dud, I decided to take advantage of the cold weather and spend the day outside. I don't think the temps got over 25.

Not much more than a dusting at the trailhead increased steadily to about 4" of new snow above 7k. At about 7500 feet, the previous snowpack required me to switch to snowshoes.

I had followed the tracks of a pair of coyotes that had followed the trail for 3 miles. They were absolutely spot on the route-finding, which otherwise would have featured a few hiccups in the snow. But they didn't cut switchbacks and even went under/over/through deadfall sections to stay on the trail. It was actually a bit impressive to follow their tracks for such a long stretch.

Once on the rim, I headed over to Forest Road 208 for the additional 2 miles to the lake. This was a challenging stretch because the existing snowpack had developed a thin crust and with each step I partially broke through the crusty layer under the new snow. Needless to say, breaking the trail through that was exhausting. (Snowshoeing should count for double miles!)

The reward was the lake, which was much fuller than Knoll, only about 4 feet low. I'd guess there's enough snowpack on the ground right now to fill it.

On the return trip, I stopped by the Promontory Lookout Tower and the Promontory Snotel remote weather site. A quick section on the Crook trail brought me back to See and a much quicker downhill than the morning climb!

This was a good new winter destination.