A Little Bit Of Snow, Then Sun, Then Snow Again: Timing Is Everything

The truth is that I really haven’t gone anywhere more than 60 miles away since last November and I am itching to do so. A combination of saving money and trying to catch up on a long to-do list has had me staying closer to home but it is time to get out there! So I threw my bike, trail runners and snowshoes in the car and headed over SR 2 and Stevens Pass in search of some outdoor fun.

I needed to visit Daroga State Park one more time in an attempt to get some non-fall pictures and I hoped that Wenatchee would offer some sunshine that was not in the forecast at home. The weather for the pass was “winter storm warning” so skiers and snowboarders were excited that morning but I was just hoping to make it over without an avalanche or traffic.

I was not successful.

I left early Saturday morning when there seemed to be a break in the snow showers and made it to Scenic before traffic came to a stop and there was a large mobile ” ROAD CLOSED” sign about 20 cars in front of me. Great, how long would it be? Was it more avalanche control? Another Subaru in a ditch?

Turns out is was kind of both. There had been an avalanche and it buried a Subaru. Thankfully I was only stopped for 15 minutes before we were able to move past in one lane. You can see the black tip of the roof rack on the white Subie in the snow on the right of this picture. I didn’t see the top of the car until I passed the state patrol car.

Traffic was backed up at the summit, my son says it was crazy busy (he was up about 1.5 hours before me for snowboarding). Cars were lined up to turn into the Nordic Center 5 miles east of the summit, at least 50 of them hoping to snag a spot and take the shuttle back up to the ski resort. Parking at Stevens Pass has been a point of contention and this season was no different.

I made it to Daroga State Park about 10:30am and snapped off some pictures of the park from the entrance (since the park is closed until April 1st). There were some folks parked there who looked to be heading into the park to walk the trail but there wasn’t any foliage on the trees yet so it didn’t seem worth it to do so myself.

The sun felt glorious, even though the wind did put a chill in the air.

After that, I drove back down towards Wenatchee and parked at Wenatchee Confluence State Park. This is my favorite spot to park for the 10-mile Apple Capital Recreation Loop Trail that runs along the Columbia River on both the west and east side of Wenatchee. My plan was to bike the trail, making a stop at Pybus Public Market for lunch. I needed a few more pictures for a future post and well, it was close to lunch time.

I didn’t take a lot of pictures along the trail because I knew I had some similar ones already, here are two past ones from the east side in case you haven’t done the trail:

I arrived at Pybus around 1:00pm, locked my bike up and headed inside. There was a community resource event happening so it was full of people and tables. After using the bathroom, I found a restaurant with a yummy looking salad at Fire & Ice and sat for a bit.

Leaving a little after 2pm, I was back on the trail. This is the busiest section, between Pybus and the Confluence. I was glad to see they had painted pedestrian and bike lanes since the last time I was here, even if everyone didn’t seem to notice them.

Back at the car, it was time to decide what was next. I was debating heading up to Mission Ridge or maybe Lake Wenatchee. However, a look at the weather forecast for Stevens Pass the next day had me thinking the best thing would be to be on the other side of the pass that night.

Then I remembered that when I was on the Index-Galena Road in January to snowshoe on Frog Mountain, I had seen several great places for dispersed camping and vowed I would come back to do so.

So I went back over the pass, turned right towards Index and continued until I found the spot I had seen in January near where the Index-Galena meets the Beckler River Road. Mind you, the road was not reassuring. There are several places it is sinking, several more with downed tree debris and even a section with rock debris (some pretty good sized chunks). The overnight forecast was significant rain, what kind of adventure was I in for?

Undeterred, I snuggled the Element in next to a spot along the North Fork Skykomish River and set up my chair with a view of Bear Mountain for a little knitting. There was only about an hour left of daylight before I was in the car for the night (knitting, reading and editing my hike guide for Daroga). With absolutely no reception, it was blissful.

The Droplet Caplet by Denise Bayron in Iconic Orange by Lolabean Yarns.

The rain began in earnest about 10pm, waking me up. It would do so off and on through the night until snow must have started because I couldn’t hear anything. In the early morning I was woken up by what sounded like a rustling animal in the tire well until I looked up at the moon roof and realized it must be the soft sound of snow sloughing of the side of the car. A peek out the window confirmed a winter scene.

Snuggled in my warm sleeping bag, I delayed getting up as long as I could but a “bathroom visit” was eventually needed. I donned my raincoat and boots and headed up towards the road for a spot away from the river to dig a hole.

It was beautiful outside and the snow was still falling. As excited as I am for spring, I do love a snowy landscape.

Back in the car I popped the back hatch and set up for coffee and breakfast. Nothing fancy today, just a meat stick and Paleo Crack-lin No Bran cereal. I had some hard-boiled eggs in the cooler but I was too lazy move the mattress to pull them out. I sipped the hot brew and knit a bit on some socks.

Looking at the map, the “road” I was on was marked as the San Juan Creek Trail and appeared to run along the river for .9 miles. Hmmm, was it worth a hike? I had walked a short distance up the road last night so it did seem to go for a while. Why not?

Back in my rain gear, I started down the “road”, noticing other spots where high clearance cars have parked.

One had a really nice view across the river and cliff face below Troublesome Mountain.

However, at about .2 miles the trail disappeared in downed trees and slumping foliage and it was clear vehicles, let alone people, were not venturing much further. I gave it a good try to find where the trail (old road) must go but eventually it looked to be a bit more work than I wanted to do in the rain and snow so I turned around.

Instead, I walked up to the main forest road and over the bridge for views of the North Fork Skykomish. I was surprised to see tire tracks but it made me happy to know at least someone had made it up the road and it wasn’t blocked by a huge downed tree or boulder (hello, anxiety).

This truly is a gorgeous area, I can’t wait to have more adventures along this road. I had been to hikes here before, like Blanca Lake and the North Fork Skykomish to West Cady Ridge and Benchmark Mountain but from Beckler River Road.

Soon it was time to head back down towards home, there were chores to do. The snow on the road was wet and sloppy but the Element did great. The most interesting part was passing back by the rock debris and noticing come pretty big chunks ON TOP of the recent tire tracks. Yikes! I said a little prayer of thanks I had not been driving down when that happened.