Went out Solo.... Unloaded at the Powerlines on 17....... and headed south..... lotta bare road.... the snow up high was good spring riding..... I heard there was a group of 5 sleds out......the Forest Service was patrolling..... and the Sherriff's dept were out too...... I never saw anybody......didnt take any pix either......hadnt been any grooming....  some of the  trails were a little rough........ Just a  time for me
to get away from the house, and see if there would be any spring riding up in that area.......maybe
 

Friday April 12, 2002

    Strarted off For Skyline SnowPark on Hwy 26 in the AM to Look at some trees..... Got Lost...... Kinda.... Never found what I went over there for........
    There is still Snow around the SnowPark ..... Gettin a little thin..... the Trails have good snow yet... Kinda Rough tho.......Some New Snow..... Which we are supposed to get this weekend and there will be some good riding over there.............. I spent most of the time around Clear Lake Butte

The Tower is still standing OK

    I headed Home...... Decided to check out 44........John V had been up the weekend before.....and found some bare spots......
Somebody had been Plowin Snow this week...... They stopped about 1/2 mile from Brooks Meadows.....
With a Turnaround.....With a trailer ya'd have to unhook and turn it by hand...... A  Turnout at the High Prairie Jct with room for a couple a rigs...... The Best Bet would be to Unload about 1/2 Mile before the Jct in the Bare Spot just before ya start around the corner, and ride the ditch to the Jct

    Also 17 was Plowed from the Power Lines thru Long Prairie and to Shell Rock Mtn ........ If  they dont do any more plowing for a while the Access should be pretty good for a  month or so....

    I heard a rumor somebody plowed the Dead Point Rd too...... If they did Mt Defiance should be accessable  again.... Seems the Forest Service is trying to find out who did it........Dont think there are any loggers tryin to get up there  either.......

    I decided to check out Red Hill too......... The Snow has melted out to  4  Corners now......I had to see where the Bare Spots were so I unloaded.... and took off...... And I  went, and I went, and I went.....I got all the way over to the Pinnacle Ridge Trail where it intersects with the Mt Hood Wilderness
Got some good Scenery Pix there  too
This is about as close as we can get to Mt Hood with a  Snowmobile...... the  tree line is the Wildrness Boundary...... Its about a Mile to the open foot of the Mtn..... I wouldnt suggest tryin to take a Sled up there.....Its Illegal to start with....... If ya goofed up ya'd just as well bury it where it lay...... I've Hiked that  country...... Its Rough......

This is what I  call the Pinnacle

And the Head of Laurence Lake down there..........

And the Obligatory Pix from Red Hill

Still a Cornice  or a few up there too ....... Dont think a guy would survive jumpin off this one.......
Probably hit a tree........ about 50' up.........

I found a Snow covered Rock Slide... Lookin west at LoLo Pass

Found a nice Hole to Play in too...... I  didnt tear it up too much,  just in case we get back up there  this
weekend......I  dont think there's been a Sled  in here all winter.......

    Red Hill was fantastic....... snow was just soft enough to cushion the ride, the snow was smooth,
the wind drifts werent as big as in yrs past.....It had been 2 months since I'd been up there......
And there's been some major snow up there since..... and very little  traffic.....It was  Great

I'll Quit for now.......
    Ltrs
    GG