Today’s hike was kind of a roller coaster. Originally, I was supposed to be working on the house this weekend (getting ready for our flooring installation), but I’ve made good progress during the week, so decided I could get out for a quick hike. Kirk was going to come, but had to cancel due to needing to go to the doctor. So, Thor and I headed up to Calico Road (the second time this year), and headed up.

I was surprised at how much snow there was. Just a few weeks ago there was pretty much no snow anywhere, but today, there was snow at the crest of the hill outside of Estacada, and remnants of snow along 224. Once we turned off to go up Fish Creek road, the snow started getting heavier – it wasn’t ON the road, but right up to it.

We started out on the old road with snow almost covering the “tread”:

We continued down the road, making good time and watching the snow get deeper and deeper. We got to a turn where the sunlight was poking thru and illuminating the trees (this photo doesn’t do it justice):

We continued down the road, gaining elevation until we got to the 120 spur junction. At that point, we started heading down and found some fresh deer prints in the snow:

We continued down the road to its end and then did a short cross country jaunt back to the 54 road. From there, we decided to head upstream to the first bridge. We had lunch there and rested for a few minutes. Here is Fish Creek from first bridge:


Thor was kind of restless, so we shortly headed back. On the way back, I looked back at one point and saw this view of what I think is Wanderers Peak, with snow on it:

We made good time going back and got back to the car about 1:30 and then headed home.

Nothing terribly exciting or earth shaking happened on this hike, but it was nice to experience the snow and get out and enjoy the woods for a few hours.