Snow Hike at Jefferson Park 6 November 2015

I knew there would probably be snow at Jefferson Park, but I didn't expect as much as there actually was!  Snow appeared about 15 min into the hike and it piled higher as the trail gained elevation. It was new snow too - only two sets of footprints ahead of me. All day - only three humans on the trail. All was well for the first couple hours but as soon as the temperature started rising, the snow on the trees started falling. I ended up wearing the rain jacket and covering the backpack because it was a constant shower with the occasional giant plop of snow on the head. Everything was so pristine and pretty though and the temps were so warm that despite being wet, I wasn't cold.
I traveled through untouched snow to get to Scout Lake where I stopped for a bit to have some lunch. I had intended to go to Russell Lake, but the snow was getting softer and deeper so I scrapped that idea and turned back after one of the larger ponds off the PCT. The trail was very wet - lots of standing water - on the way down. Happily I had just waxed my boots, so my feet were still dry even after walking for at least ten miles in water.

map  12 mi, 1800 ft gain

the day started out innocently enough!

soon the trail looked like this!

Jefferson

red huckleberries

snow covered rock field

Scout Lake

grasses in a frozen pond

Scout Lake

At Whitewater Creek

snow had melted a lot since the morning hours

mysterious clouds

bear grass and huckleberries

tiny mushroom community

back in the lower elevation forest