It poured the whole drive to the mountain, but as soon as we started our ascent through Mt. Hood National Forest, incessant rain turned into thick white flakes. To our delight, the scenery transformed almost immediately--under thick white clouds miles and miles of snow-topped forests glistened in the falling snow.
Last weekend, we hiked a 5.25 mile trail to and around Trillium Lake. From what I've gathered, it's definitely the most traversed snowshoe trail at Mt. Hood. Most of the trail is a relatively flat snow-covered road, so it's wider and invites big groups and families with kids. Although we enjoyed our hike, we were ready to try a different, more isolated trail.
The rental shop recommended the 4.5 mile Lower Twin Lake Trail, so we decided to give it a shot. The other trail we were considering, White River, was the venue for a 4K and 8K snowshoe race. Yes. Race. The guy who won the 8K last year ran it in 35 minutes. That's about 7:00 minute miles. On snowshoes! Since Lindsay is still recovering from knee surgery and we've only snowshoed once, we figured we'd try a different trail.
We pulled up the Twin Lakes trail map on my phone and drove about six miles south of Government Camp to the trailhead. As soon as we started our hike, I knew it'd be leaps and bounds better than Trillium. Within minutes it felt as if we were deep in the woods. The trail was pretty narrow so we were single-file most of the way.
After 1.5 miles and about a 500-foot ascent we reached the turn for Lower Twin Lake. We walked downhill for about a half a mile and then reached the lake, which was completely covered in a few feet of snow. We inched close to the lake to maximize our view. Lindsay was a little too trusting of the ice and ended up with a wet foot. If it was wet and cold the rest of the way, she never let me know.
While resting at the lake for a few minutes, we spotted a handful of birds in the tree above us hopping from branch to branch. It looked like they were enjoying the winter weather just as much as we were. After a water break, we continued onward to Upper Twin Lake. Close to a mile and a pretty good 300-foot climb later, we reached the lake. Another beautiful sight.
At this point in our hike, we had to make a decision. Turn around and head back the way we came for a 3.2 mile hike, or continue on. We both felt great so we decided to go further, continuing through rolling hills on the winding trail.
The parking lot was close to empty by the time we got back, close to four hours and 7 miles later. As we were packing the car, Lindsay said uneasily, "Um Maura." Ut oh. "I can't find my iPhone. It's gone." Great. A white iPhone lost in the woods on three feet of snow while snow is falling. It could have slipped out of her pocket two miles ago. She walked up the trail a few hundred feet, but no luck.
We decided not to stress about it and drove home. On the way, Lindsay's mom called. "Some guy has your phone. He found it in the woods." Hooray! Not only was it not lost, but somehow, it was still working. The lost iPhone had been found. Our snowshoeing outing was not ruined after all. In fact, it was quite lovely.
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