Kettle Crest South, Snow Peak — Friday, Jan. 8, 2010

Eastern Washington > Okanogan Highlands/Kettle River Range

We reserved a night at the fabled Snow Peak Cabin for a nice winter excursion into the mountains via snowshoe. Snow Peak Cabin is off of the Kettle Crest Trail south of Sherman Pass (about 5 miles from the parking lot) and is reservable online. It features a three burner propane stove and ample propane for the season, a small mountain of wood ready for the fireplace, and kitchen pots, pans, utensils galore. It also has sleeping pads and cots, folding camp chairs, and a new LED Solar lighting system. All in all, pretty cush digs for a foggy and chilly weekend. The trail south was well traveled (we took a right at the first junction onto the Sherman Loop trail) and easily traversed. Where the loop trail meets up again with the Kettle Crest Trail about 3 miles south from the TH, all the traffic for at least the two previous weeks had taken the left and the loop back to the TH, leaving us with an unbroken trail south (to the right at the junction) with only intermittent flags and marks on trees to guide us through about 24 inches of crunchy powder. It took us a few hours of trail scouting to make the last 1/3 of the trip a our packs and snowshoes made for slow going. After following the hillside and crossing the saddle on the W side of Snow Peak, we could see the cabin off in the distance and made in there about 30 min before twilight. The register showed that we were the first visitors in over two weeks (accounting for the lack of broken trail and frozen cabin). We soon had a roaring fire and good food and settled down for a relaxing evening in the mtns. The next a.m., we took a quick sledding trip up the open field below the Snow Peak summit and then packed up for the trip back home. Having broken the trail the previous day, the return trip took half the time. For anyone considering this adventure, reservations can be hard to come by for weekends, so plan ahead. The hike is mildly strenuous but most people will have no problem with it. The cabin has lots of items already there, like shovels and axes and a plethora of well used but effective pots and pans. Feel free to bring along a "gift" for future users such as a bottle of dish soap, a game or crossword book, perhaps some extra knives and forks. Enjoy - its a great place for a winter excursion!