To celebrate the long weekend, we went into the mountains this morning for a snowshoe adventure! I took my wife and mother-in-law to Salmon Ridge Sno-Park, crossing our fingers that it would not rain on us. It was upper 30s, partly cloudy, even some sunshine now and then. Perfect weather (not so perfect trail conditions, though). Snow is in the forecast for tonight, though, so by tomorrow this report might be outdated.
We left Bellingham at 7:40am, stopped at the well-stocked, well-lit public restroom in Glacier (just follow the signs), and arrived at the Sno-Park a little before 9:00am.
***WARNING #1: the most hazardous part of this entire area is the PARKING LOT. It is a solid sheet of ice, several inches thick. Giant potholes for your car to dodge around (our Rav4 did fine), but the real danger is when you step out of the car. Skating rink! We didn't feel safe until we had our snowshoes on. But snowshoes don't fit well in the port-a-potty LOL so we slooooowwwlllyy walked across the lot to use the bathrooms. People much smarter than us had brought Yaktrax just for use in the parking lot - I highly recommend doing that.
Once we navigated the parking lot, we began our trek on Mom's Trail (the right-hand gate when you are looking from the parking lot). Plenty of snow on this trail, but not in the best condition. The snow throughout the morning was solid and crunchy. You could probably boot most of it. The few skiers we saw said it was really icy and difficult. We were fine on snowshoes, just crunching along. Definitely not a winter wonderland, so hopefully more snow soon.
After Mom's, we continued on Razor Hone, the main drag. Still icy and crunchy, but there was a parallel track for skis. We stayed to one side as best we could. We encountered a few places where the road was bare (dirt and gravel - see photo) - we crossed in our snowshoes just fine, but we saw people taking off and putting on skis. Lots of running water and greenery - not what we expected for mid-January.
We made it to the first junction with Cougar Loop (just under 2 miles). Took a 20-minute break eating snacks, drinking hot cocoa, and enjoying the peace.
Went back the way we came. When we hit the junction with Mom's Trail, we kept going on Razor Hone, and about 100m down the road, we jumped on the River Trail (snowshoe route) - it's marked with a tall orange wand.
This was the best part of the morning - definitely different than snowshoeing on the road! The trail is well marked with blue diamonds and arrows, which is a HUGE help. It meanders through trees (be sure to take the short spur to the viewpoint of the river!), paralleling Razor Hone. You really feel like you are deep in the woods (see photo).
***WARNING #2: At one point where it gets close to the river, the trail just ENDS. The river has washed away the outer bend of the trail. We carefully stepped into the river, crossing to an island of dirt and gravel (see photo). We made our way downriver, following the blue ribbons on shore that marked where the trail used to be. After 100m or so, we crossed back to the shore, and picked up the trail heading back into the woods. I would only recommend doing this if you have waterproof boots. Of our three pairs, two stayed nice and dry, the third pair (oldest pair) left my wife's socks a bit damp. At times the water was only a few inches below the tops of our boots. It does look like there is a narrow makeshift dirt trail along the shore, but we didn't want to do more damage, and it looked too narrow for snowshoes.
The rest of River Trail was lots of fun - big patches of ice, a few more flooded areas (just requiring some nimble steps), walking on sand, crawling under a tree. We finally came out at the parking lot - what a fun way to end the morning! My wife and mother-in-law had a great time, and they both want to go snowshoeing again, so I'm calling it a huge success!
So that's the scoop - hopefully conditions will improve soon. We went 4.5 miles, 270ft elevation change. Just under 3 hours total. Grateful to be up in the mountains today.
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