Palisades — Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022

There’s a chance of snow showers in the forecast tomorrow (Friday), so conditions might change from what I experienced today.

Winterized my day pack and hit the road for the Palisades trail.  Stopped at Wapiti Woolies for breakfast and to use the restroom since there isn’t one at the trailhead (other option would be to drive about a mile past the trailhead to the Camp Sheppard / Snoquera Falls TH where there’s a pit toilet).

Watch out, as always, for elk around Greenwater and Crystal Village. Had one walk out in front of me near the Village again today; fairly common occurrence. 

Layers are the key to victory; there were lots of temperature variations over the course of the trip.  I had a moisture wicking tshirt, long sleeve shirt, and rain shell that I used as well as a puffy coat that I did not, but I run hot and sweat over a bowl of lukewarm soup, so I tend to use fewer layers than most.  Also had and used fingerless gloves as well as normal fingered gloves.

I also cannot recommend enough bringing a wide brimmed hat when hiking under snow laden trees, especially on sunny days, to protect the back of your neck from snow bombs dropping from the trees.  I love my brimmed ‘all weather’ hat, and it gets almost as much use in the winter as in the summer.

Got to the TH around 9AM and was the only car there; was also the only car there when I got back to the TH after my hike.  I didn’t see anyone else the entire day, which was incredible. 

Almost from the beginning there’s a dusting of snow here and there to the side of the trail, with the occasional very short bit of crunchy hail-like stuff on the trail itself.  These are few and far between initially, then start to increase in frequency after the lower Dalles Creek Falls (about 0.8 miles from the TH).  By the time you get to the stairs just below the upper Dalles Creek Falls (about 1.1 miles from the TH) the trail is pretty much completely covered in snow, initially with only a very thin coating. The stairs themselves were completely covered in snow.  As you progress the snow gets a bit deeper, though I would say never more than 2 inches along the side of the trail, and 1 inch accumulation was more typical.  The trail itself is well packed and easy to follow. On the way up I did not use traction until I got to the board over Dalles Creek at the upper Dalles Creek Falls and I did fine. 

The board that goes over Dalles Creek at the upper falls was a sheet of ice.  I chipped a bit of it with my poles and threw on my microspikes for some added traction.  Without poles and spikes I would not have tried crossing, but I felt comfortable enough with them to slowly make my way across.  I just left my spikes on at this point. I had intended to use them coming back downhill to help on the steeper snowy spots anyway (being somewhat accident prone and having already met my quota for wipeouts this month), so I just finished the rest of the outward-bound trail to the second viewpoint with them on.  Definitely overkill, but nothing wrong with a little extra traction.

The lower falls was lovely with ice forming along the drop.  The upper falls wasn’t quite as pretty, though I’ll admit most of my attention was focused on making sure I didn’t slip off the board crossing Dalles Creek.

The first viewpoint was fairly snow free and had a great view.  The second one had more snow and less safe spots to sit, though the view was in my opinion a little better than at the first viewpoint.

Falls colors are still hanging on, which was a nice contrast against the snow. 

There were quite a few trees down across the trail, but only three locations where they impeded travel.  The first is about 0.67 miles from the TH. The tree that’s fallen wouldn’t be an issue, it’s low enough to step over, but there’s branch about 2.5 inches in diameter coming off it that’s blocking almost the entire width of the trail.  This branch is a bit too low to easily duck under but too high to step over, so you’re left awkwardly trying to go swing around it while staying on the trail.  I’d left my hand saw in the car, but if anyone has one and is going to hit this trail, you could easily take care of the branch and make the tree just a simple step over.

The second is just past the upper falls where a tree about 20 inches in diameter has fallen perpendicularly across the trail.  It’s high enough it’s took a bit of a sit and straddle for me to get over, but isn’t too bad.

The third troublesome spot is only about 275 ft past the second spot.  Two trees, both approximately 20 inches in diameter, have fallen perpendicularly across the trail.  Both are fairly high, and they are close together, so take a bit of concentration to get past.

As I hiked I could feel my blood pressure going down; there's just something relaxing about the sound of boots walking over crunchy snow.  Gaia clocked the day at 6.56 miles and +1870 ft gain.  Day well spent!

Happy hiking!