Saturday morning we woke up to sunshine and snow falling! I was glad it wasn’t raining. The flakes falling were light and fluffy. I turned on the gas fireplace (I loved that thing) and made us breakfast. Thankfully I packed a bunch of food for us. I love staying in places with kitchens!
Breakfast was bagel thins toasted with cream cheese and smoked salmon. We split a large navel orange and then got dressed in our snow gear.
From Sunriver it was only about 12 miles up to Mount Bachelor. The snow was heavy and covered everything in a blanket of sparkling white.
We parked at the Edison Butte Sno-Park and that’s where we went snowshoeing. The snowshoeing book I bought recently discussed this particular trail and recommended it. It was classified as “easy” and around 3.5 miles long total.
It was a popular place for snowshoers. There were a bunch of different trails and loops to choose from.
A few days before we arrived in Bend, Mount Bachelor got 72 inches in 72 hours! They even shut Bachelor down for a day or two.
There was SO much snow! I’ve never seen so much. It was fresh snow too–soft and deep, not compacted or frozen. We discovered quickly that we sank into the off-trail snow pretty much to our knees!
A trail had been forged in the fresh snow but the trail was narrow and barely wide enough for snowshoes. Michael struggled a lot because his shoes are bigger than mine. We set out on the trail. It was a lot of up and down hills. We trekked through the trees and were dwarfed by them. I love the Ponderosa Pines and how they look in the snow.
The sky was a cornflower-blue-gray but it was clear. It didn’t snow much while we were out there until we turned around.
I’m not sure how far we snowshoes on Saturday. We ended up turning around and doubling back instead of completing the loop.
The trail was getting very difficult and the snow was so soft we were sinking into it. We turned around. It was mostly uphill the way back.
We got back to the parking lot. I was feeling good and could have gone further on another trail but Michael’s hip was bothering him so we called it a day. It was better to cut it short and be able to snowshoe the next day than have him crippled!
Stats:
Time: 1:50
Calories Burned: 570
Distance: ? No idea–maybe 3 miles total?
We returned to Sunriver to clean up, change and eat leftover pizza for lunch. Then we went to downtown Bend to walk around and shop (mostly window shopping).
We also walked around Bend and Mirror Pond, then grabbed a beer (Boneyard IPA was my favorite beer of the weekend).
We went to Amalia’s for dinner. It was a Mexican place in Old Town. It was packed! The food was pretty good. I had a pork enchilada. I was good– I wanted to eat it ALL but I ate half and saved the rest! Go me! Michael got the chorizo and steak tacos.
We got back to our rooms at Sunriver and Michael went to bed. He was hurting pretty bad. I stayed up for a few hours editing my book by the fireplace. It was a great day.
QUESTION: What’s the most snow you’ve ever been in?
Karen@WaistingTime
The most snow I was in for any period of time was the Blizzard of ’78. I lived outside Boston at the time. There was a ban on all driving and I remember our family taking a sled to the store to buy milk. But the biggest snow fell on our vacation house in New Hampshire when we weren’t there. We showed up soon after to find a drift between the car and the front door that was well over my parent’s heads!
Lisa Eirene
Oh wow! That sounds exciting! I’ve never been in that bad of a snowstorm. I think it would definitely be a crazy memory. Sounds like you guys made the best of it.
Lisa
The most snow I’ve been in is 24 inches that fell the first week of March, in the blizzard that hit the south in 1992. I got snowed in away from home. It was probably for the best because my apartment didn’t have power and getting out of the complex was impossible for 3 days. That was a storm to remember!
Your trip looks like fun! I’ve been to Bend before and stayed in one of the resorts, but it was during the summer. We went white water rafting while there. It seems like it’s a great destination to visit in the summer or the winter!
Lisa Eirene
Wow! That sucks. Glad you weren’t trapped somewhere without power or heat. There was one year that it snowed several feet over night in Portland and I was trapped at Michael’s house for a week. Luckily my neighbor had a key to check on my kitties. There was so much snow that year.
Bend is a great place to visit year round. We’ve only been in the winter time so far. We’d love to go in the summer and take our bikes. Someday!
Roz@weightingfor50
Wow Lisa, that looks like a REALLY amazing day!!!!! We had a few HUGE snowstorms when I was a kid in Calgary. They RARELY closed schools, but I remember staying home and going out to play in snow that was as high as I was. My Dad wouldn’t be able to get to work because the snow was so bad the roads were closed and the busses weren’t running. Thankfully, we live on the coast now, and snow like that is pretty rare.
Lisa Eirene
I think other parts have a much better infrastructure for lots of snow. I’m sure Canada does it right! Oregon, not so much. Honestly we don’t get a ton of snow.
Ingunn
We went snowshoeing (with our friends and their 10-week old baby!) on Sunday, and I’ve never ever seen snow like this in the Cascades. So much fluffy powder! Usually our MSR snowshoes keep us afloat in anything our mountains can dish out, but when we started breaking trail this time, we were sinking several1-2 feet with every step! Insane.
Lisa Eirene
Us too!! Our snowshoes are really nice (tubbs) and we rarely have that issue but this time the snow was super soft and powdery. Once we lost the trail in Edison Butte we turned around because we were sinking so much.
Jill
The most snow I have seen is 3 feet. It was so much fun!! Your pictures are GREAT! I have never been snowshoeing before- but I think it is now going to be added to my bucket list!!! Sounds like a really great time!!!!
Lisa Eirene
You should definitely add it to the list! It’s so much fun and a really good workout.
Deb
Me: Wow! 72″ of snow! That’s 6 feet!
Bf: That’s more snow than we get in a year!
Me: That’s more snow than we get in 10 years… lol.
I can;t imagine even seeing that much snow anywhere- that’s enough to bury someone standing up in. O.o
Lisa Eirene
It was A LOT of snow!!! I was shocked.