We had reservations to spend the night at Bruni's Snowbowl Hut, one of
MTTA's huts near Ashford. Although the upper Sno-Park lot was open, the weather forecast was for 4 - 8" of new snow, so I felt safer parking at the lower Sno-Park. This made our trip 8 miles round trip with 2,200 ft of elevation gain. There was only a little snow along the side of the road by the parking area, enough to pull my sled.
By the time we reached the Upper Sno-Park, there was close to 8" of snow and it began snowing heavily.
The entire route is up closed forest roads. This is a great place to snowshoe in poor avalanche conditions as there are no avalanche risks along the main routes.
There are several streams along the way.
We took turns pulling the sled.
We had some breaks from the snowfall.
It was a winter wonderland with all the fresh snow.
The turn off to Snow Bowl Hut is about 2.5 miles from the lower parking area. As we crossed the saddle towards the Snow Bowl Hut, we had some blue sky.
After enjoying a nice flat area along the saddle, the road again climbs uphill. I was happy to see the roof of the hut peeking above the trees.
Snow Bowl Hut!
On a clear day, there are great views of Mt Rainier, Mt Adams and Mt St Helens. Today we only had views of local hills, but they were beautiful with all the new snow.
In the evening, the full moon broke through the clouds for a while. (very fuzzy photo taken with my phone).
Snow Bowl hut at night.
In the morning, there were too many clouds to see the lunar eclipse. I walked to the gazebo a short ways down the ridge.
As we snowshoed back down the trail, I enjoyed all the snow covered trees and landscapes.
Drove up to the SnoPark on the south side of the Mt Tahoma Trail Association huts near Ashford. The road was mostly clear to the lower parking area. This was 8 miles round trip with an overall gain of 2,100 ft. I only saw two other people and that was when I was about halfway back down the trail. A very beautiful and serene day. Photo of the gazebo at Snow Bowl Hut with a view of Mt Rainier.
The first 0.3 miles from the lower SnoPark was fairly free of snow.
After the first 0.3 miles the routes were completely snow covered and I donned my micro spikes. I made sure to stay to the far side of the groomed trail to avoid stepping in the area meant for skiers.
The turn off from the main route to Snow Bowl is 2.5 miles from the lower SnoPark. About 0.25 miles up this road, I put on my snowshoes as I was starting to post hole off on the side of the groomed trail.
View of Snow Bowl Hut near the end of the route.
To the east, I could see the Goat Rocks and Mt Adams in the far distance.
zoom of the Goat Rocks
A little closer to Snow Bowl Hut, there is a good view to the south of Mt Adams and Mt St Helens
zoom of Mt Adams
zoom of Mt St Helens
A short distance beyond Snow Bowl Hut is the gazebo, I sat on the deck outside the gazebo for a lunch break, enjoying the view of Mt Rainer.
slight zoom of Mt Rainier
From the other side of the gazebo, I could see Mt St Helens in the distance beyond the frozen prayer flags and rabbit prints.
To the west, up on the hill is High Hut.
view to the southwest
On leaving the gazebo, I looked back at my deep snowshoe tracks and was glad I brought them today.
View of Mt Rainier, and to the far right High Rock, as seen coming down from Snow Bowl. This is also the view as seen from inside Snow Bowl Hut.
About 1-1/2 miles before the lower parking area, their is a brief view of Mt Rainier through the trees.
