My sister and I went snowshoeing at Barlow Pass on Saturday. Probably the last time I’ll go snowshoeing until next winter. There’s still PLENTY of snow up there, but I’m done with snow. I’m ready for green leaves and wildflowers at lower elevations!
It snowed down pretty low Friday night, so we started encountering snowy trees and piled-up roadside snow a lot sooner than normal. We pulled off along Highway 26 a few miles before Government Camp to take a few pictures. You know that big corner pullout below Tom, Dick, and Harry Mountain? I’ve always wanted to see that huge slope of trees covered in snow, and now I have!
The view of the mountain was non-existent, though.
There are VERY high walls of snow at Barlow Pass. I cannot believe how deep the snow is up there.
We meant to walk down the Barlow Road, which heads due south from the parking area. But we didn’t see a break in the snow wall so we headed west down Road 3531 thinking the Barlow trail might branch off from it. Turns out we just didn’t go far enough down the snow wall to get to the break where the trail heads south. Oh well.
Road 3531 heads west past Buzzard Point, looping down the hill past the pioneer woman’s grave and coming out at Highway 26. We didn’t go that far. We stopped before we got to the grave. Fortunately the grade is gradual, so climbing back up wasn’t TOO difficult. We went through several cycles of sunshine, clouds, and crazy falling snow. Spring is weird.
I do love the sight of snowy trees against a blue sky. You just don’t see that very often around here, since the clouds like to stick around FOREVER after gracing the trees with snow. I can’t remember the last time I saw snowy trees backdropped by blue sky. This was the last picture I got before my camera battery died (I forgot to charge it before we left….doh!)
On the way back to the car, we spotted a gray jay in the trees beside us. We knew he was looking for handouts, but it’s bad to feed the wild birds so we kept our food in our packs. Deborah held out her gloved hand, though, to see if the bird would come over, and he did! He landed right on her hand and stayed there for about 20 seconds before realizing that he wasn’t getting any food from us and flew away. He even tried pecking at Deborah’s glove! He was fluffy and cute and I was very mad about my dead camera battery because it would have been an awesome shot. Oh well.
Great day in the snow! But from here on out, I’m playing in the wildflowers.
