2/4/21 Part way up Bear Canyon the week after a big snow storm. Beautiful weather, but it was waist deep postholing by 9,000', and I had to turnaround early. Brutal workout! Next time I'll bring the snowshoes.
1 The creek is flowing with spots of snow in Bear Canyon.
2 It's mostly dry up to about 7,000', but then it start getting thick fast.
3 It's knee deep by 7,500'. It's a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky. And not another human on the trail.
4 I've been mostly following some old snowshoe tracks so far.
5 But the snowshoers apparently turned around, and I'm breaking trail from here on.
6 It looks like Icehouse Canyon and the Three Ts have a pretty deep covering.
7 Looking back at my tracks. I'm postholing anywhere from knee to thigh deep now, and it's a crazy workout. Every step is a roll of the dice whether your foot stays on the surface or sinks thigh deep. And then I broke one my snow poles to add to the fun.
8 This traverse was a little dicey. The downhill slope is steeper than it looks in the photo.
9 That's about 3 1/2 feet there.
10 I make it up to the cool craggy ridgeline just below 9,000'. It's getting almost impossible to move at this point, and my feet (in only my waterproof trail shoes) are frozen. And the wind is howling. I begrudgingly decide to make this my turnaround point for the day.
11 360 of my turnaround spot with the cold, freezing wind.
12 I make good time heading down and drop back into Bear Canyon just as the sun is starting to get low. End to a tough but fun snow day!