Adams South: Gotchen Ck GS and Aiken

[drm]

I headed out on skis from the Snow King Snopark today on a bluebird day to the Gotchen Ck Guard Station and beyond. It felt like April or May. I did a similar route on snowshoes last weekend, a bit shorter and a lot more work. I waited till the afternoon so the ice would soften. The route mostly followed forest service roads, some groomed, some snowmobiled, some none of the above. Conditions ranged from icy to slushy to fairly swift.

I've posted about the Gotchen Ck GS before. It's about a hundred years old and one of the oldest forest service structures still standing. It was built to count sheep back when sheep and cattle grazers didn't get along well.

I continued a bit further to the toe of the Aiken Lava Bed, a large and very rocky ridge that extends down from Mt Adams south side.

[Splintercat]

I've posted about the Gotchen Ck GS before. It's about a hundred years old and one of the oldest forest service structures still standing.

That's cool, Dean. Have you hiked the trail that follows the lava flow north toward Bird Creek Meadows? I'm wondering if it hugs the lava flow as closely as the map implies.

Tom

[drm]

I've posted about the Gotchen Ck GS before. It's about a hundred years old and one of the oldest forest service structures still standing.

That's cool, Dean. Have you hiked the trail that follows the lava flow north toward Bird Creek Meadows? I'm wondering if it hugs the lava flow as closely as the map implies.

Tom

I never have without snow, but did snow hike a part of it a month ago. After a number of visits to the area in snow in recent months, it's become a priority for later this year. The Snipes Mountain Trail does hug the very east edge of the flow for some distance, and unlike say the PCT south of Indian Heaven, this flow is younger and there is virtually nothing growing on it. It also goes through an extended area of the 2008 fire. And combined with some other trails (primarily Cold Springs #72) and a small bit of dirt roads, could be made into a loop around the flow. I might give it a try late spring when the lower sections are melted out and the upper part is still snowy.

[Roy]

I made it up that way this week to and skied some different roads it was spring like my favorite place to go. I like to follow the the main road over to bird creek meadows its a very pretty trip in winter.