12 miles of hiking • 3500' elevation gain • 2 nights
Early Spring snowshoe up to South Cinder peak. Arrived at the Marion Lake TH late at night as it was steadily raining. Camped at the trailhead. Rats scurried outside our tent all night. Set off on a drizzly morning up the trail, headed past snow covered Lake Ann, and giant icy Marion Lake. Ran into a couple of optimistic fisherman, who turned back when they began post-holing in the 3 feet of snow.
We began hiking up a long ridge through a burned out forest as it snowed. Visibility was very low, so no views of nearby Jefferson and other peaks. We hiked up the side of South Cinder to a ridge overlooking where we believed the PCT went by. We set up camp at 6000' as the wind howled and visibility went to zero and the snow came down heavily. Steve built an igloo out of iceblocks for his shelter, the rest of us set up tents and built windbreaks from snow as we settled in for a cold night.
The night was very cold, temps in the low 20s. Fortunately the wind died down at night. We ate breakfast, broke camp and began the trudge down in lots of new snow. Delightful snowshoe conditions made for an enjoyable hike back to the trail where the snow levels decreased enough to go back to boots. Thanks to Steve and Justin for photos.
