During the Spring, Sundays are my only option for hiking so when you get the promise of a dry & sunny Sunday it's like wining the lottery! I was in the mood to do something with a bit of adventure & danger thrown in so who better to meet up with than Don Nelson for a hike up Silver Star
..As the Crow Flies I live 19 miles from the Summit of Silver Star but it's over 50 miles by road!
We set off for the Grouse Vista Trailhead & almost made it all the way having to park on the side of the road about a quarter of a mile below the parking area.
We were quite well behaved at first & actually stayed on the trail as far as Pyramid Rock but then decided it would be more fun to go over the top of Pyramid Rock & follow the ridge line up rather than staying on the trail. We checked out a cool rock fissure on the way up then climbed down the other side.
We then continued along the ridge line until we met the 180 trail were we saw a fresh pair of snow shoe tracks & a lone hiker up ahead nearing the summit of Star Two, we set off in the same direction.
From the Summit of Little Silver Star or Star 2 we could see the lone hiker that had been in front of us at the Summit, it turned out to be fellow Portland Hiker Van Marmot!
There were great views in all directions from the Summit including Sturgeon Rock which was also on our list for the day.
After a lunch time chat with Bruce & the one other hiker that was up there we headed for Star Falls, these are below the Summit on the North Side of Silver Star & required an off trail excursion down into the upper levels of the canyon.
Along the way we found this large Snow Wheel but it looked like it had been there for quite a while & so we were not too worried about any potential avalanche.
We continued on following the creek to the top of the Falls.
Getting to this point more than satisfied the danger requirement for the hike
.. I really needed to be 4 steps closer to get a good pic of the falls but my self preservation alert had activated & I wasn't going any closer to the edge!
From the Falls we had to slog back up & out of the Canyon, this was tough going, the snow was pretty soft by now & with each upwards step we were also lifting about a pound of snow that was always on top of our snow shoes!
We eventually stumbled onto the final section of Ed's Trail & headed for the junction with the Silver Star Trail.
From this junction we cut off through the trees again to meet up with the 180C Sturgeon Trail. Then once past it's steepest cliffs climbed up the snow bank to get up on top. The top of Sturgeon Rock is a great place to explore!
From here we headed down the 180C to it's juction with the Tarbell trail which would take us back to Grouse Vista. This turned into another tough slog, the trail was 70% snow covered but with frequent bare patches in between which meant that we couldn't leave our snow shoes on all the time & since we didn't want to be taking them on & off all the time we packed them away & trudged through the snow in our now wet boots!
One nice surprise, we met a sleepy Porqupine on the trail, he eventually realized we were there & trundled off the trail. Don has some better pics that I'm sure he will add later.
Back at the car we had 9.6 miles & 3100' logged on the Garmin but it felt like a lot more!
A great day out in the woods!
Lots of (as yet) unsorted photos here.
