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| Hiking | 5.14 Miles |
1,880 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.14 Miles | 2 Days | | |
| 1,880 ft AEG | | 30 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Weather has been clear for the last week, so I booked an overnight reservation at the Tilly Jane A-Frame on Mt. Hood and snowshoed in. At 5700' feet, it is theoldest structure still standing on the mountain.
Arrived at the Tilly Jane Sno-Park at around 1300 only to find access was completely blocked by Sheriffs Dept, USFS, and S&R vehicles. Turns out a recently missing plane had crashed on the mountain and crews were on the way up to search for it. I briefly chatted with a couple of deputies to ensure they didn't have any issue with me heading up for the night, and they confirmed I would be outside the search area and I could continue as planned. I had to loiter for about 20-30 minutes as they loaded into snowcats to make their way to Cooper Spur, then I squeezed into an ice covered parking spot.
I had opted to leave my microspikes at home and only brought snowshoes, which ended up being a bit of a mistake. Since it's been about a week since our last storm, the trail was already well trampled down and super easy to follow. Flotation was never an issue, but the trail was slick with ice- especially through the first 1/2 mile, so I opted to throw on the snowshoes anyway to gain some traction.
The Tilly Jane Cabin is a multi-user cabin, where multiple parties can reserve a spot up until the cabin reaches capacity at 20 users. There were 4 other users scheduled to stay the night at the cabin with me, but I arrived to find it completely empty. I had a brief scare when I couldn't get my combo to open the padlock to the door, but eventually got the door open and headed in.
I had a nice leisurely evening watching the sun set, sitting in front of the fire, and stargazing. I started to doze off around 2200, only to be awoken by the other group arriving. I opened the cabin for them and got another fire started as they all dropped their gear, then we gathered as a group around the fire and shared whisky until everyone was ready for bed around midnight.
Sunrise the next morning was spectacular- almost perfectly quiet and windless outside, a light layer of clouds changed color as the fog rolled through the canyons far below us. Not wanting to wake anyone, I loitered for a bit until the others started to stir before I packed up my gear and headed down trail around 0830. Definitely a fun experience and I would love to do it again. |
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