3/31, Sunday. Warm and sunny. Took my guest to Reeds College and Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden between Blue Star donuts and lunch. Cherry blossom was very good in the college. Didn't notice the sundial before. These two places are next to each other.
The garden now charges $5/pp. Magnolia and cherry. No rhodies yet. Always a good place to watch for ducks. Saw 2 wood ducks, my favorite. Lots of people (kids).
~2pm, I walked up to Pittock Mansion with my out-of-town guest. It's a trek to the top of the hill. Probably >5 miles RT from downtown. Mostly on road lined with nice houses. Saw some trilliums in Washington Park along the trail. Arrived 30 minutes before they close the building at 4pm (still on winter schedule).
Nice building (built in 1914). Some furniture of 20-30s (re-furnished later). I like the rooms that have view of the garden and beyond, and many do. Bedrooms on top floor, saloon on the main floor, and architecture design drawings (and bathroom) on the lower floor.
Many modern amenities, electrically wired, with heating, intercom. Some strange utensils and an S-shape double sink, a bizarre shower stall with its own door, and side jets (to spray your lower back), and a floor level jet (to test water with your foot). 
Other showers have cylindrical rod for shower curtains. Wardrobes have shallow but wide drawers.
After the house, we headed to the lookout, where most folks were. Good day for it. Great view of the city below and Mt. Hood ahead. Lots of people crowded around 2 picnic tables taking photos.
3/24, Sunday. A lazy morning. Despite of a minor injury of my lower back, I still went to Timberline Lodge, because another hiker had signed up my outing. We rode Mt. Hood Express together. Arrived at 2:30pm. After a bathroom break, filled my water bottle, we set out towards Palmer lift on snowshoes. Arrived ~4:35pm. Up till here, you could simply walk in boots. Saw some climbers coming down in their heavy packs. Clouds cleared a bit.
This trek is straightforward, safe, wide, scenic. After 3:30pm, you'd be mostly alone, because the lift had shut down. Including us, there were only 6 people on the slope. Two turned around at the end of Palmer. After a long "lunch" break, we continued up, to about 92-9300' (according to my GPS map). Somewhat steeper, but nothing difficult, as the snow was soft, with a few crusty parts. If not constrained by time, we could have gone ~1000' higher without any difficulty. We are at the same altitude as Illumination Rock. Hood is an amphitheater of chocolate cake with icing. Can see Columbia River. But too hazy to see St. Helens. 
Around 6pm, we headed down. ~6:15pm, we were at Palmer. The two guys ahead of us stayed up: probably waiting for the sunset. Sun got a bit lower on the horizon. Not a great sunset that I hoped, a bit hazy. Back at Timberline Lodge at 7:15pm. Sunset is at 7:30pm, but by then, the sun was already gone. We have a bus to catch at 7:45pm. The driver let us on the bus, so we didn't have to wait outside. The temperature dropped noticeably. But the lodge itself is too hot to stay inside.
We started towards West Granite, via Granite Mt trail. In about 3/4 of a mile, a juction at 2600'. Took the left fork (the Pratt Lake Trail). Instead of continuing an additional 2.5 miles to above Olallie Lake to a junction (3900'), we put snowshoes on and turned right about 1 hour from TH. Just headed uphills to the right through the woods. 
Around 10:35, we could see Rainier through trees. Trees are not dense, so easy maneuver. Only one short section was steep, and avalanche prone, around 11am. An half hour later, reached the top of the first hill. Great view of Rainier to the south and Olympia to the west. A bit windy here. Walked north of some trees, and had a snack break facing West Granite, and Granite. There were already tracks here to follow.
Going down slightly, straight forward ridge walk to West Granite Mountain (5566'). Met a camper here, who came up the previous night. Great 360° view. Finally we could see the north side: Kaleetan Peak, Crystal Lake, and our final destination less than a mile to the SE. We walk the flat east ridge to some trees for a long lunch break. Papermoon had hot chili soup! Two brought whiskey, one girl brought green colored moche (for St Patrick's day). I like West Granite more than Granite, since it's quiet and surrounded by wilderness. We left I-90 behind, which we'd hear when approaching Granite.
Down to the saddle. The top 100' was steep, then straightforward, until Granite, all the way there were tracks. Met one skier. Some trees at the bottom of the saddle. There, my right boot kept on slipping off, until I realized that the bottom strap was broken. 
Slowly limping up to Granite, I was the last person to arrive to the lookout tower. There, I sat down, took time carefully retying the boots. Great 360° view. You can see the I-90 bend to the east and straight down south.
3/16, Saturday. Partly sunny, warm (maybe in the 60°Fs in the city). Went to Rainier for one of my favorite snowshoe route (a repeat of Jan 1st 2018): Narada Falls -> Reflection Lake -> Mazama Ridge -> Paradise Lodge -> Narada Falls TH. Road was clear all the way to Paradise. Snow was soft.
First short stop is Christine Falls Bridge. Then we saddled up behind the bathroom of Narada Falls without visiting the falls. The parking lot was almost full. Snow was compact on the trail. If you stay in the center, you may not need snowshoes. Didn't find any tent at Reflection Lake. I guess either too early or too late. Met a few small groups. Yes, grey jays came to steal my lunch.
Back track to the junction and took Mazama Ridge trail up. The higher section of this loop is most rewarding. Saw two tents at different location. Track was obvious most of the way. We took the slope down to Paradise Road cross-country. Not sure if it's better continue on existing tracks.
Managed to reach the Longmire gate at 5:26pm before the advertised closing time of 5:30pm. On the way, took this eerie photo of Alder Lake. The water level is at its historical low according to this article. The cause is contributed to an unusually hot, dry summer, followed by a cool and dry September.
3/10, Sunday. Not cold, maybe in lower 50°Fs in the city. Just above freezing on the trail. Somewhat windy. Total about 11 miles, even though Mary's AllTrail app shows 13 miles and 3500' gain.
5 of us hiked up from Multnomah Falls. I've never seen it in snow. Looks quite pretty, but small. The paved trail was very slippery. Soon I put micro-spikes on. Took them off for a section, and put them back on for the next 10 miles. Once over to the top of the falls, it was more snow than ice. We had lunch at Devil's Rest. No view, but a few boulders block some of the wind. In contrast, Angel's Rest is always a delight. Great view if not windy or foggy. Windy today, so couldn't linger.
The Benson Plateau was a winter wonderland. Soft snow. If it were not for so many hikers already, would need snowshoes. Back via Foxtail Trail to connect to Wahkeena Trail. Coming down to Wahkeena Falls was also a bit icy. We did walk the connection between the two waterfalls without spikes. A bit slippery.
7 of us. Already 6-7 cars in the parking lot ~8:20am. Met a small group of folks coming down soon after our start. They started at 5:30am. Not sure why. For sunrise? Encountered snow soon into the trail, part dirt+rock, part snow. I put on micro-spikes. One of us didn't put any traction until heading down. One guy put on crampons (really an overkill). Trail is well defined, by many passing boots. Above the junction sign of "difficult" and "more difficult", we saw one glissade butt track on the hill in the woods. 
After reaching the first view point (see photo, taken on the way down), snow got to knee deep. Still you can follow footsteps, so not to sink. Gaiter is essential or rain/ski pants. A bit of wind. Put back on the clothes I took off. For some reason I wasn't feeling well (lack or sleep? not enough breakfast?), so ate a Larabar. Strange, that I felt worse for 5-10 minutes, my fingers were all tingling. We were almost at the top. After a rest and lunch, I was back to normal. Met a large group of Mazama's BICEP class at the summit. Unfortunately the visibility was about 10m. 
The frozen snow on the trees looked quite amazing.
Park on the west side of hwy-35, cross the road, over the snow bank. There was ski track the first couple of miles. At this first viewpoint of Mt Hood, track stopped. Ice crystals, then ice sheets formed gradually in my Nalgeen bottle. At Gunjuac saddle (5200', 2.6 miles in), I had hard time opening the lid. Ice formed at the top. I used teeth to crack the ice and drink. But soon, my lid was frozen solid, and impossible to open. The ice at the top was ~1cm thick. The lower 2/3 of the bottle was still water, when shook, produced a slushy sound.
We continued on the road for a little too much, and deviated from the trail on my map, even though it was close. Mary, the hike leader was breaking new trail, most places soft snow, one slope had crusty surface. It was slow going. Sometimes quite steep. I put on all my clothes and ski gloves. Finally I found a use of one of the little touch pens I bought, which I tied to the pull strap of my left ski glove. Didn't want to take off my gloves! But still need to consult my phone for the map or take a photo. I got bored following the footsteps knowing that we were not on track. However, once I started paying attention of where we were and tried to route around tree wells, this became more fun. We got to the first rock edge, maybe only a quarter mile to our destination.
3/2, Saturday, partly sunny, cold, breezy. 9 of us.
The trail starts in gravel, frozen solid, a bit icy. I put on micro-spikes quickly. Rodney falls didn't have as many icicles as I'd like to see, but still quite nice. More icicles around the falls from the drips and spray. After a miles or so, it was packed snow. 
Many people on the trail today, enough footprints (and holes) leading to the top of mountain and the ridge. However, no more beyond. Very windy at the top and the ridge. Couldn't walk steadily. Had lunch hiding behind the rock below the top. Getting chilled quickly and we hiked down.