Ten of us departed at 8:30 AM with our snowshoes to get an early start on Mt. Ashland before warm temperatures softened the snow. We headed to the end of the Mt. Ashland ski area parking at FS20 (elevation 6,400’). We marveled at our good fortune to snowshoe on a sunny day sandwiched between days of rainy weather. We snowshoed (with one yak-tracking exception) along FS20 with stunning views of Mt. Shasta to the junction of the road up to the summit area and trail down toward Grouse Gap.
Snow fully covered the road with open patches confined to the hillsides with visible rocks. Three of us who’d had some equipment issues took the low chopped up trail towards Grouse Gap for a shorter distance. Although the skies were a bit overcast, we had clear views out to Pilot Rock, Mt. Shasta, Black Butte, and Mt. Eddy and down into the Colestin Valley.
Seven of us took the well-groomed high road up to “Rabbit Ears” at 7,000’where we had stunning views of Mt. McLaughlin and further towards Mt. Thielsen and Mt. Mazama near Crater Lake along with many other mountain peaks. We enjoyed lunch and the brilliant sun before zipping down the hill with crows flying silently one at a time overhead.
The Rabbit Ears snowshoers trekked 4 miles RT with a 600’ elevation gain, the ‘grouse-seekers’ hiked about 3 ½ miles RT with about 400’ elevation gain. We are so fortunate to enjoy an exhilarating snowshoe on snow-covered mountains so close to Ashland.
Elisabeth and Kay
