Mirror Lake is a small lake in the Mount Hood National Forest, but I can't tell you much more - it was frozen over and didn't appear very big at all. The only indication we were near a lake was the lack of trees in that area - everything was under quite a bit of snow. Near Mirror Lake is Tom, Dick and Harry Mountain, so named because of the three small peaks that stick out of its main ridge. I kept annoying the guides by asking them if they knew which was which.
TD&H is around 5000' (1524 m) in altitude, but the trailhead also starts pretty high up; around 3400' (1036 m) giving this hike an elevation gain of 1600' (488 m) over 6.4 miles (10.3 km).
I managed to find both an elevation profile and Google Map at Backpacker Magazine, but couldn't get the functioning map to correctly embed in Blogger, so I just took a nice screenshot to show you guys. If you want to view the map interactively, follow this link. You can check the whole page devoted to the hike here.
The weather in Portland was pretty nice when we left (if a little drizzly, but I guess I have lived here long enough that drizzle doesn't constitute bad weather to me anymore). As we drove up to the snow line, it started coming down pretty hard. We got a nice tour of Highway 26 after we missed the trailhead and drove on for a while in the snow. When we made it, we had to put our snowshoes on in freshly fallen wet snow, and a ton of it. We managed to get out with the last group, jumped over the precarious little wooden bridge over a creek and up we went. Today, "we" meant the carpool group I shared for the next few hikes: Pete, a wildlife biologist and old-school outdoorsman, Jerry, a firefighter and his son Christian. Pete's the guy with the beard in some of these picturs and Christian is the guy with the long red hair. I'm the funny looking guy in the hat in most instances.
Getting ready:
The hike up was beautiful. Several fresh coatings of snow covered the tree branches, and in spite of the abundant snow that was coming down, it really did feel like a winter wonderland - if only we knew what was coming ahead! Some of the trees were immense, and the scale of everything was humbling. Huge trees on the side of a large mountainside, with little ants with backpacks wending their way in between. The climb was steady with a few pretty steep pitches to give this novice snowshoer a good workout. Here are a few shots of the hike up the initial section and around the lake.
We stopped at a little clearing to eat and rest. I was feeling pretty good about the climb so far, though not a little tired. I carelessly wolfed down a sandwich and tried to relax. We were in the clouds and visibility wasn't very good and I didn't notice that we were standing at the edge of a mountain that was bigger and steeper what we've been climbing and that people were starting to break off into groups and scale the steep path going up. I groaned, bucked up, and we started what turned out to be the actual climbing part of the hike. Here we go!
While I didn't have my full backpack on yet, this particular part of the hike was good training. The visibility was next to nil, we had wind and snow blowing in our faces, and so instead of enjoying the views, we put our heads down and simply went up, up, up, without asking questions. This made me concentrate better on my climb, and making sure I kept pace with the hiker in front of me. I was also glad I brought a hooded shell.
Maybe it was the lack of visibility or the fact that we were getting rubbery legs, but we were continually teased with the promise of a summit. Every time we rounded a steep stretch thinking we were there, we were only greeted by another little hill, a turn around the side of the mountain or another little rise in the path. Our leader, Foxie, finally took us up on a little ridge where the pitch levelled of and broke for a quick rest. The ridge dipped a little, then continued up and there we were on Tom Dick and Harry. At that moment, we saw a break in the clouds looking out towards the ridge. Soon, we were treated to lovely views of surrounding hills and mountains covered in snow-frosted trees. We found a more sheltered spot to rest, rehydrate and grab a snack and enjoyed the satisfaction one gets from slogging a few hours to stand on top of something.
Below are some pictures of Foxie as we rounded the ridge, and yours truly bouncing around at the top of the hill. As a bonus, one of the aforementioned views of snow-frosted hills.
The ridge that runs the span of Tom Dick & Harry is a long one and there were some gorgeous steep drops down that made me wish I was skiing and not snowshoeing. At this altitude, the snow was less wet and very inviting to a skier. As it turns out, we got to do the next best thing. We decided to take a steep route down directly off the ridge, which Foxie used as an opportunity to teach us the plunge step - where you plant the back of the snowshoe in at a steep angle into the snow then transfer your weight onto it and bear down. The snowshoe's surface absorbs your weight and as the snowshoe flattens out you float gently down until your foot is horizontal. Repeat this and you basically run down a mountain in slow motion. It was quite fun and I ended up blasting down the drop-off with a big grin on my face. Waiting at the bottom for our whole group to arrive made me want to go back up as several of the ladies in the group got the idea that it would be a lot more fun to slide down on their butts. As much fun as running down was, this option seemed at least as enjoyable...
We descended some very steep sections, and as a farewell to the mountain before we re-entered the woods to go back to the lake and the trailhead, we decided to build a snowman at the end of the little pass we had just descended. We got to working, and ended up with something that looked more like a swine than a snowman. We christened him the Snow-Pig and left him as the watcher of the pass and guardian of whatever hikers came after us. In reality, we probably freaked out some unsuspecting hikers, though I have yet to hear tales of a mysterious pig cult operating in the mountains of Oregon.
As we went into the woods, the clouds rolled in again, following us down to the trailhead. It started snowing pretty hard as we walked past the snow-covered trees, but we were happy to note that it wasn't raining in Portland when we got back. I came home drenched, another feather in my hat. This hike was a load of snowy fun, and a nice taste of winter landscapes which, after 20 years in Canada, I was starting to really miss in the misty and wet Pacific Northwest. Any of you reading this in Ottawa think I'm nuts to miss the snow, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't.
Stay tuned for the next installment where I go hiking the back trails with a mystic!
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