A very nice day for a spring hike. I finally got out to go hiking, and ended up deciding on the Clackamas River Trail, since I figured that there wouldn’t be any other trail free of snow, or free of snow very far. I thought about Cripple Creek, but didn’t think I’d get too far before snow. Anyway, I ended up going from the fish creek end, and it was a very nice day. I ended up doing 8 or 9 miles, going to Pup Creek Falls.

The trail was clear of snow, with only a couple VERY small patches in the trees. The trail was in GREAT shape, with only a couple of down trees and a couple of slide areas that weren’t very bad. A good hiking day. I saw two other groups of hikers on my way out, but no one on the way in, except for some kayakers at the parking lot. I then went up to Ripplebrook and beyond to see how much snow had melted. The good news was that a LOT of snow has melted since January. Road 46 past Ripplebrook is clear now, with only some snow on the sides as you get up farther. The Riverside trail is accessible once again. The bad news is that there was still a LOT of snow in places. I think you can get to Bagby now, although I didn’t go that far, I only went to where road 63 meets 70, where they closed it. At that junction, there is still over a foot of snow on the road. My GPS said the elevation there was about 1700′, so we still have a ways to go before we can get to the higher trails. I hope we get some warmer weather to start melting off some of this snow! The other thing I noticed was there there are a LOT of downed trees and slides this winter. It was a tough winter for the roads…..