Lone Butte Saturday

Yesterday morning we loaded up the Outlander and headed to the local park and ride to meet Jan and Skip, then to the Skamania PUD parking lot in Carson to meet up with Ole and Karen for a day of skiing at "the end of the road", which is kinda like the Restaurant at the End of The Universe.

It was miserable when we left White Salmon, rain, wind, general nastiness. The gusts heading west on 14 were ferocious, especially around Drano Lake (gotta love that name). We wondered about our sanity, but reminded ourselves that when all looks grim at home, it just MIGHT be better somewhere nearby. We were not disappointed.

It was rainy on the way up the forest road to Old Man Pass, but then it turned to all snow as we went the 5 miles more to 'The End of the Road'. It was the nicest snow I've skied on all winter! The GPS said we'd gone 3.5 miles and gained a few hundred feet elevation when we stopped for lunch at Lone Butte Meadows. Which means the ski back was mostly downhill, with a few fun rollercoaster bumps just to get the adrenalin going. We were passed up by a few courteous snowmobilers, but no other skiers were there at all. We saw our shadows a few times, briefly, but the snow was getting pretty heavy by the time we made it back to the car.

I stole the photos from Lloyd. See his write up and more pictures on the ONC site. We'll have to go back when it's sunny, I hear the views of Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Adams are fantastic.