32 Degrees and Snowing?
The gear is ready, the car is packed, and the family is excited to hit the slopes of Mount Hood to fulfill all their riding dreams. You call the snow phone half way up to the mountain just to see how much powder you will be enjoying and in the most cheerful voice you hear “It is 32 degrees and snowing at the top and slightly misting at the bottom.” The smile turns into a clenched jaw and the Bob Marley playing on your stereo no longer sounds so ire. What do you do?
Last holiday season we had two cars filled with family in a similar situation. Turning around and taking a nap seemed to be the best solution but the look of disappointment on the young ones of the bunch stopped this from happening. I decided to shift gears and rent cross-country gear and go out on a trail. My lady being the brains of our dynamic duo suggested we rent snowshoes as she explained it is much easier to walk rather than balancing on cross-country skis.
The trails we could do started through my head: Trillium Lake, The Snowshoe Trail, Tea Cup Lake, Sahalie Falls Loop and my childhood favorite Ski Bowl West/Multorpor Lodge. We chose my old favorite for the simple reason that at the half way point, Multorpor Lodge, we could warm up and enjoy hot chocolate, cinnamon rolls, and french fries.
We stopped at Mountain Tracks, in Government Camp, and with the assistance of a great staff were on our way with snowshoes, boots, gators and poles. The laughs started the moment we got on the snow and I pushed my lady over for making fun of my love of boy bands. A few miles of snowshoeing, many hot chocolates and an endless memory of laughs later, we were singing Backstreet Boy songs on our way to a family dinner in Molalla. The fact that all we could do over dinner was tell stories from our day and laugh made me realize that 32 degrees and snowing really is pretty fantastic.
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