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.We stopped at Hood River for dinner. I didn't notice this in the write-up when I signed up. Both Solstice and Pfriem required 25-30 minutes wait. So went to Ferment, a new brewery, with low expectation, because Mary had an unpleasant service last time. It was fine, both service and food. I was too cold to order a beer. Had an FBC burger with blue cheese. It comes with fries. All pretty good. I didn't like the ketchup-like sauce for the fries.
I got a ride home today. Made it to the hot tub in the clubhouse for 15 minutes before the door closed, my first time since I moved here.
