Salmon Ridge Snowshoe — Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026

The powder is very deep, sticky, and not recently groomed, so it's slooooow going out there but well worth the adventure if you're properly geared up and ready. Today we were slightly underprepared and our dogs quickly accumulated heavy snowballs, so we kept things relatively short and stuck to the more well-beaten paths (Mom's and Razor Hone). I did however do a bit of trail-breaking along the River Trail and that was fun until a set of very loud bangs (avalanche control?) upset my dog and forced us to make our way back to the car ASAP. That part was far less fun, but we'll probably head back up again tomorrow regardless.

Parking: kind of a mess? Better than the huge puddle of slush it was this past weekend, but not very inviting either. No issues though, just parked close to the entrance to make for an easy getaway and had a shovel on standby just in case.

The road: snow coverage starts in earnest around Fossil Creek, but the road was clean and clear on our way up. It started to snow again while we were out so there was some minor accumulation on our way down with a few slippery sections, but the plows are out in force and we didn't see any spinouts.