I brought my wife snowshoeing in 2013 and she was immediately hooked. We rented snowshoes a few times, then decided to buy her a pair. Due to the CA drought, those snowshoes sat unused for a full 2 years. This past weekend, the local mountains were hit by a significant snowstorm. Not wanting to miss the opportunity to finally get those ‘new’ snowshoes out of the house, I took the day off from work. We piled all of our gear, our son and our dogs into the truck and drove towards South Fork Trail. After driving around for a while, we decided to park near one of the locked gates off of Jenks Lake Road.
We did not walk long before we decided to put on snowshoes. We snowshoed a couple hundred yards, but soon discovered that the the snow on the road was patchy, alternating between areas of decent coverage and areas that had completely melted due to sun exposure. We spent a couple of hours chasing the dogs around, pulling our son on a sled and enjoying the sunshine. I am hoping we will get out again this winter.
While we were up there, I also took a look at the South Fork and Forsee Trails. There was snow at both trailheads and the South Fork Trail looked like it has been getting some use (packed snow).
Notable Gear
- Hydrapak Stash
- I continue to be impressed with this bottle. I have been using it everyday at work and around the house, as well as taking it on my hikes. Full review coming in a couple weeks.
- Oboz Bridger BDry
- Very comfortable. Debating if I’ll wear these or the Beartooths for my next snowshoe.
- Gossamer Gear Riksak
- So far, so good. Very lightweight pack meant for light loads.
- Planned uses:
- When I hike with my wife and son, we will use it to carry the usual contents of our diaper bag.
- Day pack for my quick, 90 min training hikes near my house
- ‘Summit’ pack for backpacking trips.
- Gym bag as needed.
- My son thinks it makes a great pillow
hugo
are the roads closed to south fork trail parking? Im planning to backpack to dry lake on the 20th of march, should I take snow shoes?
TheHikingGeek
The road to South Fork TH is open.
The temp for the trailhead is predicted to get into the 60s for the next week or so. I would be surprised if snowshoes are needed, unless we get more snow. I may be up there tomorrow or next weekend. I will let you know what conditions are if I am.
Here’s a link to the forecast:
http://www.hikinggeek.com/2014/01/01/hiking-weather-forecasts/#SGW
TheHikingGeek
Hi Hugo,
If you take the winter route to Dry Lake, you may want to carry snowshoes. The snow in the drainage is very deep. It’s hard to tell how much will melt between now and then.
Here is a link to my trip report from March 7.
http://www.hikinggeek.com/2015/03/09/zahniser-peak-10056-snow-climb-mar-7-2015/#photos