beating the heat

Just under a year ago, we hiked up to White Pine Lake in Little Cottonwood Canyon.  You can read about that hike here - and you really should, because we went back up to White Pine Lake this past Saturday what a difference almost a year makes.  I mean, almost a year and 200 inches more snowfall than last winter.  The first part of the trail was exactly the same: steady and not too steep, rocky underfoot, largely shaded under a cloudless, sunny sky.  It was quite a bit wetter, however, with creeks and springs overflowing and using the jeep road trail as their streambed.  It had been a tough winter up there too as there were lots of trees down, many across the trail.

H crossing the meadow

When we reached the meadow - which at our last visit was verdant and filled to bursting with wildflowers - it all changed to being completely under multiple feet of snow.  Lots and lots of snow.  We couldn't see the trail but enough folks had gone up previously that we were able to follow their tracks, winding our way across snow bridges over roaring streams and up through the evergreen forests.  We came out into the glacial bowl, where in non-snow-covered times switchbacks wind their way up to the lake, and immediately decided that we could cut some distance off this hike by climbing up the steep slope directly under the dam instead of trying to find those switchbacks.  The slope was quite steep and as we didn't have crampons or YakTrax, we had to stomp footholds in the snow.  (Note to self: buy another pair of YakTrax.)

Less than ideal fishin' conditions

We finally clambered up onto top of the dam at the end of the lake - and then nearly were blown right back off again, it was so windy.  Also: the lake was almost completely frozen over and H noted that he was glad he hadn't bothered to bring his fishing pole.  We found a somewhat sheltered spot and hunkered down to eat our apples and granola bars, marveling at just how frickin' much snow was up there.  Totally different scene from almost a year ago.

Action shot! Note how I'm not falling

We didn't linger at the lake because I didn't want to get chilled from the wind, and glissaded right back down the way we came.  I am getting better at glissading but I can confirm that snowplowing sans skis is not that effective.  Walking out on the snow was pretty enjoyable, actually, because we made great time - half striding, half sliding - and the snow surface was very gentle on our knees.

That's at least seven feet of snow in them thar hills

When we got back to the car, we changed into dry clothes and kept driving up the canyon to Snowbird for some free folk/bluegrass at their Mountain Music Festival.  We found a table in the shade, drank some PBRs and inhaled a can of Pringles (since we were craving salt), and agreed that the hike to White Pine Lake is at the top of our favorites list, whether it's covered in wildflowers or buried in snow.