A failed trip up Mt Bailey

November, in Eugene, is almost perfect. It’s cool at night, but warm enough during the day. The rains start to come back, bringing an end to fire season. And there’s a couple long weekends that are perfect times to adventure into the wilderness.

Mike (of several past adventures) and I decided to get a late season trip in. We landed on Mount Bailey fro a couple of reasons. First, at only 8300 feet, we thought there’d be a lot less snow.

Second, we were hopeful we could drive all the way to the Hemlock Butte Ski Cabin. Since the snow was yet to really arrive, we thought it’d be fairly empty. And at only $6 it felt like an impossibly good deal.

But we were late leaving town. By the time we were were on OR-138 (of previous adventures), near Toketee Falls, the sun was already low. We switched to our backup plan and grabbed a site at Clearwater Falls Campground. It was a perfect fall evening.

Early the next morning, we drove to the trailhead and confirmed there was only trace amounts of snow. Optimistic there’d only been overnight snowfall, we left our snowshoes in the car. That was a mistake.

Views on the way to the ski cabin were fantastic.

But the snow kept getting deeper. By the time we made it to the ski cabin, it was to mid shin.

The cabin itself was rustic in a good way. It’d have been a colder night than camping in our hammocks a few thousand feet lower, but not an unpleasant one.

We continued on.

Soon the snow was over our knees. We started taking turns leading, since the person in back was having a much easier time.

As we reached the crater on the southern slope, the snow came to mid-thigh. Exhausted, near soaked through, and running out of daylight, we called it quits.

The return trip was much faster since not only were we headed downhill, but we had our own trail to follow.

Yet another trip with lessons learned. But not a bad way to spend a weekend.