February Hike With Amy, Dave & Kel

The Adventurer, Vernon Wade

Vernon was born in the Pacific Northwest and still lives in the shadow of Mt. Hood, near the small town where he grew up. Vernon has spent decades wandering the hills, hunting mushrooms, camping and riding motorcycles into the remotest nooks and crannies to be found in the region.

Sunday dawned clear and and still; a beautiful February morning.

Amy and I swung through town, stopping at my brother’s house to collect Dave and Kel.

We drove up Oklahoma road to where they stopped plowing. Dave, Kel and Amy strapped on their snow shoes. They had the sleek, plastic, modern shoes with built in cramp-ons, which worked well on the icy, uneven snow. My shoes are the more traditional, made from wood and rawhide, much longer and wider than modern designs. Since the snow was compacted enough to hold my weight , I tied my snowshoes to the toboggan instead of wearing them.

As soon as I harnessed Walter Dawg to the toboggan he took off like he’d been shot from a cannon. He didn’t stop until the sled got wedged in a rut.

Dave was keeping track of miliage. We had gone a little over 2 miles at this point. He said we should go another 20 minutes before turning around, so we headed up Cabbage Creek Road.

We walked up to the intersection with Cabbage Creek Road. It was relatively warm, with the temperature hovering around 34f.

Surrounded by snow and ice, I still managed to work up a sweat.

Cabbage Creek Road was all sparkley.

It would have been easy walking, if it weren’t for all the deadfall across the path.

On the return trip I decided to give Walter Dawg a break and haul the pulk for awhile. The Fire Brigade rescue belt made a good harness for pulling the sled. I clipped the shafts to the D rings and was able to haul the load hands free.

I don’t know why, but Dave is looking at his phone in almost every photo.

The snow has melted considerably over the past several weeks. I am hoping there will be enough to left to sled our gear in when Andy and I go camping up here next weekend.