Buck Prairie I and the Fawn Hollow Loop Snowshoe 2-15-23

Photos by Francie

Today's forecast from NOAA was for partly cloudy skies and a wind chill of -3o. I am now pretty sure that NOAA has been partying and is drunk and needs to go home. We had clear sky and very little wind with temperatures in the mid to upper 30s.
Seven of us started down Buck Prairie Road for about a mile. We stopped for a wardrobe change and some used the bathroom. We then headed left down road 38-3E-29. We could see the snow covered Mount McLoughlin, Brown Mountain, Pelican Butte and perhaps part of the Crater Lake Rim. We also saw some animal tracks that we could not identify. They seemed to have 3 long claw marks or something that dragged along making the marks.

The snow was deeper and more fluffy than we figured it would be. It was fast moving going down hill. When we got to the bottom of the hill, we went out into an open area where Buck Prairie 1 and Buck Prairie 2 connect. We then went back uphill for a bit and took the road that curved around a meadow and then turned up again. We crossed a stream and there was a place where Marilyn and my snowshoes cracked through some ice.

We continued up a bit to a sunny spot and enjoyed our lunch. After lunch the road goes uphill and has many spots with hard snow and ice. We could not figure out why there was such a difference in the two roads. We took turns breaking trail and made our way back up to Buck Prairie Road. We got back to our cars before 1:00 pm.

Francie