Salmon, Idaho Cross-Country Ski Trip Reports
Winter 2003 - 2004
Author: Cliff Keene Latest
revision: 03/05/2004. Minor edit July 1, 2006 to correct my web page location.
Items with an "*" were added since previous revision of 02/26/04.
Click on one of the following to jump to that section. Hit the Back button to return here.
A. MARCH, 2004 TRIPS New! Tues.
03/02/04.
B. FEBRUARY, 2004
TRIPS New!
Sat. 02/28/04 & Sun. 02/29/04.
C. JANUARY, 2004
TRIPS
D. NOVEMBER -
DECEMBER 2003 TRIPS
E. Web Site Statistics
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03/02/04 |
* Tue. Mid-Wk. Ski:. Cliff and Jim ate lunch at the Mukluk Trailhead, which is 1.5 miles past William's Cr. Summit. We then went back up the main road about 100 yards, put on ski skins and started skiing up an old road to the north east. This road ended in about a third of a mile. We skied up the drainage a few more miles hoping to find an old logging road that might be used as a ski trail. I'd like to find another route down to the Mukluk TH which currently doesn't get much use. Once back at the truck,
Jim discovered that he'd lost his truck keys. We were about 15 miles from Hwy
93, and about 12 miles from the nearest house and phone, but we started
walking. During the week there's very little traffic on this road and we knew
there might not be any more this night but we were hoping so. Realizing that
it was a long shot, I decided to go back to the truck and get my skis and
backtrack our ski tracks. Jim had taken a fall on a steep hillside and we
thought it was possible that the keys might be there. It only took me 16 minutes
to ski to that point and sure enough there were the keys. I called Jim on the
FRS radio and told him I'd found the keys and 6 minutes later I was back at
the truck. Later we discovered that there is at least one truck that leaves
the Beartrack Mine for Salmon, a little before 5:00 PM. I guess the moral of
this story is to make sure your keys are buried deep in a secure pocket and
to also have an extra key. I'm also thinking that a cell phone might not be
that bad an investment either. We might have had to walk a couple of miles to
get service but that's better than 12 miles. We skied about 2.5 hours. |
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02/01/04 |
Sun. Grp.
Ski - 7 folks, 8 Dogs: Nancy led a trip up the Ridge Road to the
A-Frame where they ate lunch. They stopped at the "Telemark
Hill" for awhile. The snow was good. Those with one dog included: Nancy,
Judy, Denise, and Tim. Renee, & Tawna had two dogs each. They were also
joined by Helen from Challis. |
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02/02/04 |
Mon. Pvt. Ski: Marlene, Cliff, and Nancy skied up the road that starts in Powderhouse Gulch, about 1/2 mile beyond the William's Cr. Picnic Area. It took about 50 minutes to get to the ridge where the road crosses to the South Fork of William's Cr. We skied about 25 minutes more, ate lunch and turned back. I expect that we were about three quarters of the way to the end of the road. There was plenty of snow
on the road with no rocks. This road has a moderate climb but can usually be
climbed without skins. Unless the snow is icy it's usually suitable for all
but very new skiers. |
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02/03/04 |
Tue. Mid-Wk. Ski:. Cliff and Jim skied up the Lower Shoshoni Trail. Folks coming down the trail, toward the trailhead, have been crossing Moccasin Cr. a couple 100 feet above the trail crossing. This avoids the steep climb after crossing the creek. I pruned some limbs to improve this trail re-route. I'll change the diamonds next year after I have a chance to see the trail without snow. It took us about 30 minutes (not counting the trail work.) to ski up the Lower Shoshoni Trail to the bottom of the "Lower Meadow". We then put on skins and climbed up to the bottom of the "Upper Meadow" in about 30 minutes. The snow was consolidated enough that I was able to make turns on all but the flattest portions of the slope; and there was enough soft snow on top for good control. It took about 6 minutes of skiing time to ski down the meadow and about 25 minutes to ski back to the trailhead. Last week the county hadn't
plowed out the trailheads. However as of this morning they'd done a great
job. It turns out that one of the operators was on vacation and they were
short handed. We thanked them for the good job in plowing out the trailheads.
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02/06/04 |
Fri. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff, drove to the lower N. Moccasin parking area on the Leesburg Mine
Road # 098. Go 3.0 miles west of William's Cr. Summit to the Deep Cr. Road
Jct. and bear right and continue 0.8 miles. The current parking area is on
the left where the sign shows Rd. 078 going left to Panther Cr. This road is
now closed by snow, but the mine snow plow has been plowing a small parking
area here. I shoveled to enlarge the parking area somewhat. I then skied
up through the "meadows" on the "Right Fork" of the lower
North Moccasin Trail. On the way I pruned a few limbs where a log fence
caused a re-route of the trail. I need to get the mileage of this section of
trail. The map and signs say 1 mile, but that was before the new road to the
mine was put in about 10 years ago. I'd guess it's almost 0.5 miles. It took
about 31 minutes to ski up to the head of the meadow by the "Left
Fork" (on the right going up) and I skied around there another 10
minutes. It took about 16 minutes to ski back down to the parking area. The
old snowmobile tracks were completely covered so that the trail is safe to
ski again. |
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02/08/04 |
Sun. Grp. Ski - 5 folks: Marlene & Cliff, Tim, Denise, and Tawna skied north up the Ridge Rd to the Jct. of the William's Cr. Trail (Right) and the North Moccasin Tr. on the left, which we took. It took about 45 minutes to ski the 2.0 miles to this junction. We skied out a ways and ate lunch and continued. The snow was about perfect. Soft and deep enough to give the more cautious skiers some control but not so slow as to prevent some turning, at least after someone made the first track. It took us about 78 minutes of skiing to complete this trail. The sign says that it's 3.6 miles, but I'd say with the "new" mine road it's now closer to 3.0 miles. After our ski we stopped
at Nancy's and had coffee and cake and a nice visit. |
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02/10/04 |
Tue. Mid-Wk.
Ski: Cliff and Jim ate lunch at the Lower Shoshoni Trailhead. Jack
and his dog joined us after they'd skied the Shoshoni Trail. We then explored
the south facing slopes to the north of the trailhead. Jim and I used our
skins to ski up to the Ridge Road. Jack skied down from the Ridge Road and then joined us skiing back up. We then skied back down to the vehicle. Maybe
I'll call this the "Moccasin South Face". |
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02/13/04 |
Fri. Mid-Wk.
Ski: Cliff and Tim shuttled vehicles to the Lower Shoshoni Trailhead and
William's Cr. Summit. We skied up the Ridge Road North for about a mile and
skied down the "Moccasin South Face" to the Shoshoni TH. We scouted
out some more slopes to the west of where Cliff, Jim & Jack skied on
Tuesday. The sun had set the snow so it wasn't as good as before but with the
right snow there are some good lines here. Caution, however, there are
a few places in an old timber cutting unit where it would be steep enough
to avalanche under the right conditions. |
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02/15/04 |
Sun. Grp. Ski - 7 folks: I was afraid the snow might not be good and that we wouldn't have a good turnout for our Cabinet Cr. Trail ski due to the 3 day weekend. Wrong on both counts. The snow was great and we had a good turnout. Cliff, Linda & Bill, Renee & Roger, Vickie and Chip from Darby drove to Chief Joseph to do the shuttle for the Cabinet Cr. Trail. We discovered that the Cabinet Cr. - Shoofly Trailhead hadn't been plowed for several weeks. Probably due to Montana DOT budget constraints. Thus we parked 0.7 miles this side of the TH at the Richardson Ridge TH. A miner is locating
claims along the Anderson Mt. Road so there were snowmobile tracks on the
road. This road is legally open to snowmobiles although not used too much,
based on a "gentleman's agreement" between the snowmobile clubs and
the Forest Service. I don't mind a few tracks on this road as long as they
stay off the side trails marked with blue diamonds. A few of us made some
turns in the big meadow which is about 2.5 miles from the highway. There are
a couple of fairly long, moderately steep climbs after this point. It took
about 78 minutes of skiing time to ski the 4 miles south on the Anderson Mt. Rd., where we ate lunch. There's another 1/4 mile or so of climbing on the
trail which is good to help warm up after lunch. There were snowmobile tracks
on the trail only for about 100 yard out to a mining claim corner. Someone
had skied down the trail not too long ago and the track and the snow
conditions were perfect. Deep enough for control but set up enough so that
one could get up some speed to make a few turns. Several folks made some nice
telemark turns on the steeper portions. It took about 75 minutes of skiing
time to ski the 3.3 miles down to the trailhead. Roger walked and I skied up
the road to get the vehicles at the Richardson Ridge TH. It took me about 12
minutes to ski the 0.7 miles. Without my heavy day pack it was easy skiing.
As usual we saw lots of elk and several bald eagles on the trip up and back. |
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02/17/04 |
Tue. Mid-Wk.
Ski: Cliff and Jim ate lunch at the Lower Shoshoni Trailhead where we
left one rig. We drove back to William's Cr. Summit and skied north up the Ridge
road for about a mile. The temperature was so warm that the new snow stuck to
our skis. We then skied back down the "Moccasin South Face"
to the lower vehicle. The old snow was set up fairly hard and the new snow
was quite sticky and heavy. I was able to turn ok on the upper moderately
steep slopes, but not down near the road where it was steeper. Still it was
nice to get out and the exercise was more interesting than jogging. I'm
afraid that the backcountry skiing won't be too good here until we get more
snow under colder conditions. |
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02/22/04 |
Sun. Grp.
Ski - 6 folks: Cliff, Tim, Nancy, Denise, and Tawna & Anita drove to William's Cr. Summit leaving one vehicle at the Meadow TH. Along with 4 dogs we
skied north on the Ridge Road, out to the telemark hill and made a few
runs. Our turns were only fair due to the wind-set snow. We skied on to
the A-Frame for Lunch. Cliff, Tawna, and Denise skied down the
Buckhorn Trail and the others skied back on the Road with the dogs.
Snowmobiles use the first 100 yards of the Buckhorn Trail to access the large
meadow to the east of the A-Frame. This has been traditional use and I feel
this section of trail should continue to be a shared section of trail. Just
before the meadow there is a fork in the trail with the snowmobile trail
going left to the meadow and the ski trail bearing right. There is seldom any
snowmobile use on the right fork and there was none this day. In another 100
yards the trail bends again to the right and goes down a fairly steep slope
(about 25% or 15 Degrees). The snow was set enough but soft enough that we
were able to make some nice tele turns. Soon Denise's skis were icing up and
once we got past the William's Cr. Tr. at the large meadow all three of us
were having problems. We found the snow in the trees was quite cool and
powdery but when we entered the bright sun in the meadows this powdery snow
stuck to our skis. We began to dread crossing the "glue meadows".
However the snow was so good in the shady spots that the trip was great even
though we had to stop and scrape our skis several times. It took about an
hour of skiing time to ski the 2.7 miles to the A-Frame and about 45 minutes
to ski the 0.2 miles back to the Buckhorn Trail and the 1.8 miles of the
Buckhorn Trail (plus about 15 minutes of scraping). |
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02/24/04 |
Tue. Mid-Wk.
Ski: Cliff and Jim had a great unplanned trip on the Shoshoni Trail
and got in some nice tele turns. We ate lunch at William's Cr. Summit. We
then skied 0.6 miles for 20 minutes south on the Ridge Road to the
Deep Cr. Ridge Trail TH at the fireline. We made a short side trip on the
road to the south to check out snow conditions. We found that there was a
fairly thick sun crust on all exposed south exposures which would have
been unskiable for me. Almost all north exposures had soft skiable snow
however. We then skied 0.7 miles for 25 minutes up the Fireline/Deep Cr.
Ridge Tr. to the steep area where the trail turns left off the fireline.
We, however turned right onto the Upper Shoshoni Trail and skied about 0.3
miles to the north end of the "Upper Meadow". Starting down, we
were careful to find shaded areas and areas where the slope had a more north
exposure and were rewarded with some great tele turns. The upper part of the "Lower
Meadow" was fine in the shade and we continued with our turns, but the
lower part of the "Lower Meadow" was too crusty for turns. All in
all however, it was one of my better runs on this trail considering that I
didn't' have my tele skis, only my double camber touring skis. It took us
roughly 40 minutes of skiing time for the 1.5 mile long Shoshoni Trail. At
the trailhead I started walking the 0.6 miles back to William's Cr. Summit,
but got a ride after a few minutes. |
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02/28/04 |
* Sat. Grp. Ski - 13 folks: Cliff, Tim, Vickie, Anita, and Chip from Darby joined Bitterroot Ski Club members Darel, Mike and Janis; and five members of the Bitterroot Nordic Ski Patrol. We parked our shuttle vehicles on the highway by the unplowed Cabinet Cr. Trailhead. We were planning to park at the Richardson Ridge TH, but it wasn't plowed too well so we just parked on the road. We skied the 4 miles south on the Anderson Mt. Rd. to the Cabinet Cr. Trail and ate lunch. We then skied the 3.3 miles down the Cabinet Cr. Trail. Although areas previously exposed to the sun were quite crusty, the snow was great in the trail and the untracked snow in the trees was good most places. This is about a 7 mile ski and my actual skiing time was about 2.1 hours. I just found out that the
reason the Cabinet Cr. TH is not being plowed is because it's too rough. The
FS will try and fix that problem next summer. I also confirmed that the
Shoofly Trail to Hogan's Cabin has been re-routed to start from the
Richardson Ridge Trail TH. The Shoofly Trail starts across the road and
follows some posts set in the snow. |
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02/29/04 |
* Sun. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff & Marlene skied north on the Ridge Road from William's Cr.
Summit about 0.3 miles and out about 0.9 miles on an old overgrown road to
the northwest. We tried to find where the road might continue and decided
that it must have ended. We were looking for a skiing alternative to the Ridge Road. We made a loop up to the Ridge Road and back to the TH. We probably skied about
3 miles and about 1.6 hours. |
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01/01/04 |
Thu. Grp.
Ski - 16 folks (I think): Let me know if I've missed anyone. Lou, Tim,
Cliff & Marlene, Merna, her son, daughter & daughter's boyfriend,
Denise, Bob & Nancy, Linda & Bill, Anita & Tawna, and Vickie all
skied north on the Ridge Road 2.0 miles. We were planning to continue to the
A-Frame for lunch, but decided to ski down the William's Cr. Tr. to get out
of the wind. We enjoyed our lunch in a stand of Lodgepole pines out of the
wind. The first part of the William's Cr. Trail is very steep and I was very
impressed with how well our three new skiers made out. This section of the
trail is 0.6 miles down to a long meadow where it crosses the Buckhorn trail.
At that point we skied the lower 1.1 miles of the Buckhorn Trail to the
Meadow TH. Part of us then skied down the Meadow Trail another 1.6 miles to
the Lower Aspen Loop TH. Thus we skied 5.3 miles in about two hours, 20
minutes. Those that ran the shuttle only skied about 3.7 miles and about 30
minutes less. |
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01/01/04 |
Thu. Grp.
Party- 19? folks: As I recall all the above folks and also, Renee, Roger,
and Nathan showed up at the potluck at Linda & Bills. We had a great time
and most of us put any dieting resolutions on hold. |
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01/03/04 |
Sat. Grp.
Ski - 8 + 1 folks: Cliff, Tim, Dave, Hugh, Renee, Roger, Linda & Bill
drove to William's Cr. Summit and left my vehicle 0.6 miles past the summit
at the Lower Shoshoni TH. We skied up 0.6 miles south on the Ridge Road to the fireline on the right which is also the Deep Cr. Ridge Tr. Jack and his
dog joined us here. We skied up the Deep Cr. Ridge Tr. (fireline) 0.7 miles
to the steep spot where the Deep Cr. Ridge Tr. goes left and the Shoshoni Tr.
turns right. We followed it out about 0.4 miles to the top of a fairly large
meadow which slopes about 20 - 25 degrees. We ate lunch and then had ball
skiing down the meadow another 0.3 miles or so. At the bottom of the meadow
we hit the Lower Shoshoni Tr. which follows Moccasin Cr. about 0.8 miles to
the TH. We flat track skied about 2.5 miles, for about an hour & 15
minutes, and we telemark turned about 10 minutes for about 0.3 miles. We
really earned our turns but enjoyed the turns and the entire trip immensely.
The snow was a little slow but that made it easier for some of the newer
skiers. |
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01/07/04 |
Wed. Pvt. Ski: Marlene, Cliff, and Jim skied up the bottom of the Meadow Tr. from Cougar Point Campground. We wanted to see if the rocks were covered enough to ski down from above at a later date. We found that as long as one doesn't try to go too fast it should be safe. Currently the snow is too soft to allow one to get up much speed. I'd forgotten that this section of trail has no diamonds in the uphill direction. I'd previously had several requests to put in more "uphill" diamonds. This will be one of my projects for next fall. We found it very hard to follow the trail going up through the logged area but eventually found where the trail came out of the uncut trees. It was easy to follow going down and it was fun to ski back in our own track. We probably only skied about 1/2 mile of the trail but counting our searching for the trail we must have skied close to a mile going up. It took about an hour & 40 minutes to ski up and about 20 minutes to ski back down. |
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01/10/04 |
Sat. Grp. Ski - 11 folks: Tim, Cliff & Marlene, Dave, Nancy, Judy & Paul, Adele, Anita & Tawna, and Vickie went to Chief Joseph. We all skied 1.5 miles on the Anderson Mt. Rd. and about 0.5 mile out on the Richardson Ridge Trail to the point where the trail starts to drop. We ate lunch and then Paul, Judy and Adele skied back to Chief Joseph and out to the warming "hut". The rest of us skied down about 2.0 miles to the Richardson Ridge Trailhead. The snow was excellent - much better than it had been on our first group ski. On the way down we met Mike from Salmon skiing up with his dog. We then skied out to the
Gordon Reese Cabin and joined Paul, Judy & Adele. We noticed that the
signs had been changed. We noted on the new Chief Joseph Pass Map, that the
previous CD (Continental Divide) Trail has been renamed "Broadway"
and the previous EZ Trail which we took to the "Hut" has been
renamed the "CD Trail". (I think this is partly so that the
summertime Continental Divide Trail can be rerouted off roads.) The Solitude
Trail which was put in the summer before last on the east side of the
Sentinel "Meadow" clear-cut is now on the map. There is also a new
trail shown taking off to the right (east) of the Timber Trail past the
Banshee Trail. I didn't see this trail so I can't vouch for it's existence,
but it appears to be called the "Tele" Trail with a short loop at
it's start called "Technique". Let me know if you ski this |
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01/13/04 |
Tue. Mid-Wk. Ski: Marlene, Cliff, Nancy and Adele drove past William's Cr. Summit and out the Leesburg Mine road about 0.6 miles past the Deep Cr. Rd. Jct. to the point where the Moccasin Cr. Rd. bears left. Refer to the 12/27/03 report for a description of this area. We walked back along the road 8 minutes (about 1/2 mile) to a small clear-cut with blue diamonds on a tree marking what I call the "Left Fork" of the lower North Moccasin Tr. We skied up through the clear-cut and up a fairly steep section of trail with a couple of switch-backs to an old road. We broke trail on this road for about 1.25 hours - 1.4 miles to the large meadow where the North Moccasin Trail comes down from the trees to the right (east). Here the "Right Fork" goes down through the meadow. We ate lunch by an old partially fallen log cabin. The sun was out and it was beautiful, although some spots were getting slushy where the sun caused snow to drop off the trees. I was disappointed to
see that snowmobiles had been up this trail. The trail is so steep and narrow that the hard
packed snowmobile track makes it impossible to control one's speed coming
down on skis. The trail in now very dangerous. It won't be skiable
until we get a half foot or more of new snow. I skied up the trail about nine
minutes to verify that the snowmobiles had in fact continued up the trail,
which they had. I then turned around and skied back down and caught up with
the others. It took me about 10 or 12 minutes to ski down the "Right Fork"
through the meadow and back to the car. |
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01/17/04 |
Sat. Pvt. Ski: Liz, Tim and Norma raced in the Teton Ridge Classic race near Driggs on Saturday. See http://www.tetoncomputing.com/tetonridgeclassic/ for race results & details. Good job! Sat. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff went to the Lost Trail Ski Area to "demo" several sets
of telemark skis. They sure have more control than my old Tuas. |
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01/17/04 |
Sat. Grp.
Ski - 6 folks: Marlene, Nancy, Janna & Arnie and Merna & Jeff.
Drove to Chief Joseph. They skied out to the Gordon Reese Cabin and ate
lunch. Merna & Husband skied the nearby groomed trails. The others skied
out to the Scooter Trail and skied as the "big clear-cut". All the
moose tracks they saw were fairly old. |
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01/18/04 |
Sun. Grp.
Ski - 5 folks: We made a last minute decision to have another group ski
this weekend. We called all the "regulars" for a trip on the Shoshoni
Trail. Refer to the 01/03/04 trip for details of this trail. Linda &
Bill, Renee & Roger and Cliff skied south on the Ridge Road, up the Deep
Cr. Ridge Trail on the fireline to the Upper Shoshoni Trail and out to the
meadows. The fireline is open to snowmobiles and there had been a couple up
as far as the steep area. Fortunately they stayed off the Shoshoni Trail. It
took us only about 48 minutes to get to our lunch spot at the top of the
meadow. We found the snow to be skiable at the very top of the meadow, but
when we reached our old tracks (and tracks from other groups) we found the
snow crusty. The lower meadow was very crusty and we all had to resort to the
traverse and kick-turn method. Although Linda did get in quite a few
excellent Tele turns through much of the meadow. It took us about 12 minutes
of skiing time to go down the meadow, not counting our falls and waiting for
others to fall. The Lower Shoshoni Trail was great. It only took about 17
minutes of skiing time to get back to the Trailhead. |
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01/24/04 |
Sat. Grp. Ski - 5 folks: Linda & Bill, Marlene & Cliff, Denise, Dave, and Tim skied. We shuttled a car down to the Cougar Point Campground and then skied the entire Meadow Trail down to the Campground. We knew that the new snow had covered the few remaining rocks in the campground, but we were afraid that the deep snow would result in slow going. We were really lucky because another party (Gene & others) was just ahead of us. We ate lunch back at our
cars at the Meadow Trailhead. After lunch Marlene shuttled down to the Lower
Aspen Loop TH, and Cliff & Tim made the Upper and Lower Aspen Loops via
the connecting William's Cr. Trail. Snow was excellent. |
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01/27/04 |
Tue. Mid-Wk. Ski: Cliff, and Jim drove past William's Cr. Summit and out the Leesburg Mine road about 0.6 miles past the Deep Cr. Rd. Jct. to the point where the Moccasin Cr. Rd. bears left. Refer to the 12/27/03 report for a description of this area. We'd planned to ski the Lower Shoshoni Trail, but the parking area wasn't plowed and we didn't want to be in the way if they decided to plow it today. I decided that the Lower Moccasin Trail would be a good choice so that I could see if the new snow covered the snowmobile tracks enough to make it safe. We found that there was from 5" - 8" of new snow in the tracks and that it was now safe using some caution. It took about 35 minutes to ski from the road up the "Right Fork" of the North Moccasin Trail to the junction of the "Left Fork" at the head of the meadow. We then skied up the main trail through the trees for another 25 minutes. It took about 8 minutes to ski back to the Meadow and about 20 minutes to ski down the meadow to the road. There was about 18" snow depth at the parking spot. The Beartrack Mine folks don't seem to be plowing out this parking spot, so it pays to have a large shovel if you plan to ski this trail. I shoveled out a spot for one vehicle. They are now logging out
toward Leesburg. Apparently they will have a load a day or so. |
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11/27/03 |
Pvt. Ski:
Either on Thanksgiving, or a little before, the first two members of our
group (Janna & Lou) made separate trips to the Upper Meadow and Wapiti
Trails. These are part of the Salmon-Challis NF William's Cr.
Cross-Country Ski Trails system. Someone else had made tracks down the
Meadow Trail to the Lower Aspen Loop TH via the "William's Lake Cutoff". Refer to my Salmon, Idaho XC Ski Page at: http://home.custertel.net/~ckeene41/cksalxcski.htm for links to descriptions
of these ski trails. |
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11/28/03 |
Fri. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff & Jim drove up to Chief Joseph Pass for our 1st
ski trip of the year. Since I'd been to Australia, I hadn't gotten out quite
as early as some years. At my measuring spot just past the start of the
trails on the right, I measured 18" of snow. I try and pick a
small open area without drifting where the trees haven't intercepted the
snow. Depth varies quite a bit, but this gives depths a little deeper than
depth gauge to the right of the entrance road. At another area where the snow
was over some brush, it was well above my knees or about 26". We ate
lunch in the car and then skied out the Timber Trail to Picnic Meadows, then
took the Whoopee Trail. When we got to the Joseph Cr. Trail all tracks went
down and we had a hard time finding the continuation of the Whoopee Trail. We
finally realized that we needed to ski up the Joseph Trail a few yards.
Breaking trail out to Sentinel Meadows was enough for me because I'd just
gotten over an "Australian" cold. We skied back on the Timber Trail
and part of the Sunny Meadows Loop. The weather and snow conditions were
great. Although no tracks had been set, many of the trails were ski-packed. |
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11/29/03 |
Sat. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff & Marlene went up William's Cr. and shoveled a ramp at
the Lower Aspen Loop TH. We measured about 10" of snow. We skied both
forks of the Upper Meadow & Wapiti Trails. Skiing was very good thanks to
Janna, Lou & others. We checked both forks of the Upper Meadow Trail and
the Wapiti Loop for hazards, firmed up snow bridges, and cut three trees that
were blocking trails. These trails are now in good to excellent shape. We
measured about 14" of snow at both the Meadow TH and at William's Cr.
Summit. This subsequently settled quite a bit. |
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12/02/03 |
Tue. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff & Marlene checked the Upper Aspen Loop, and Lower Meadow
Trail (down via the William's Cr. Rd. "Cutoff") for hazards. We
cut two trees, limbs, and a large slash pile that were blocking the trails.
The Upper Aspen Loop is in good to excellent shape out to the William's Cr.
Tr., as is the Meadow Trail down as far as the Lower Aspen Loop TH (via the
William's Cr. Rd. "Cutoff"). The Meadow Trail from the William's
Cr. Rd. "Cutoff" down to Cougar Point is not yet safe due to lack
of snow. The Lower Aspen loop may be ok now, but at the time I checked, there
was a lack of snow. The trails that had already been skied allowed some great
kicking & gliding. |
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12/03/03 |
Wed. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff & Jim drove past Chief Joseph about 2.5 miles to the
Richardson Ridge Trail TH. It hadn't been plowed for some time and had
8" of snow and a snow berm. There was about 18" of snow at
the TH and later I measured about 21" at Chief Joe. We were the
first skiers on the trail and followed a moose track up the Creek. Then we
put on skins and skied up about 3/4 mile more. Except where wet snow had
fallen off trees the snow was excellent. It was consolidated enough that I
only sunk in about 4" and it was fast enough to allow a few telemark
turns on the way back. We found no logs or hazards on the trail although one
needs to be careful carrying any speed off the trail as some downed logs were
visible. |
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12/06/03 |
Sat. Grp.
Ski - 14 folks: This was our first group ski. Vince & Linda skied the
Chief Joe groomed trails. The rest of us: Tanya & Wayne, Judy
& Paul, Renee & Her brother, Janna, Tim, Cliff, Vickie, Jon &
dog, and Rabbit & dogs skied south on the Anderson Mt. Rd. and up
the Richardson Ridge Trail where we re-grouped just before the steeper
downhill. Several of us had planned to only ski out and back but we all decided
to ski through. It was over 33 degrees (over 37 at the bottom) and we had to
go to something stickier than our normal blue wax. Once re-waxed, the snow
wasn't too bad on top. However once the good lines had been skied up on the
lower steep part of the trail it was a little hard to maneuver due to the
heavy cut up snow. Hopefully the weather will cool off again. Notwithstanding
the warm temperature we all had a good time. As I recall there was about
20" of snow near the Richardson Ridge TH and it had been plowed. |
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12/13/03 |
Sat. Pvt.
Ski: Tim Jones raced in the 3rd Annual Continental Divide Classic Ski Race at
Chief Joseph Pass. It was snowing hard and it was hard to get the right wax,
but I'm sure Tim did well. We don't have the results yet and it will be hard
to compare his time with last year because the route was a little different
this year and the snow conditions were slower. To see a few pictures of Tim
go to http://home.custertel.net/~ckeene41/xctripphotos.htm. I'll post more as I get them. (The
previous link has some captions, but the pictures are no longer on web to
save space.) |
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12/14/03 |
Sun. Grp.
Ski - 5 folks: We scrapped our plans to ski up the Ridge Road and down
the Buckhorn Trail. Cliff & Marlene drove to the Meadow TH where we met
Lou with new group members, Denise & Merna. We skied down the right fork
of the Meadow Trail and around the Wapiti Loop and followed it
back to the road. Three of us then skied the 0.4 mile up the "right
fork" of the Meadow Tr. and two walked the 0.3 mile up the road to our
cars. It had been about 45 degrees in town but much cooler here, in the mid
20's. The total snow depth was about 21" and there was about 7" in
the old tracks in the trail. The snow was great. The only problem is that the
county doesn't plow the road on the weekend and with about 5 - 7" on the
road and more in the parking area, it took a little work getting turned
around. On the way back it didn't seem as bad. I think it had cooled off and
the snow wasn't as slippery. It was Merna's 1st day on skis and she did an
outstanding job. We really enjoyed the trip. Cliff measured snow depths at
the other trailheads and improved the "ramp" at the Lower Aspen
Loop TH on the way back. There's probably enough snow to ski down to the Big
Fir TH now and there will soon be enough to ski down to Cougar Point. |
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12/20/03 |
Sat. Grp. Ski - 7 folks: Tim, Lou, Denise, Merna, Janna, Cliff & Marlene skied down the right fork of the Meadow Trail and around the Wapiti Loop and followed it back to the junction with the "left fork". We then skied down past the clear-cut and had lunch. Marlene & Janna skied back up the "left fork" to the cars. The rest of us skied down the Meadow Trail to the Lower Aspen Loop via the "William's Cr. Rd. Cutoff". Marlene & Janna picked up Merna and drove to the Big Fir TH. They skied out on the lower flatter part of the William's Cr. Tr. The rest of us skied the Lower Aspen Loop out to, and down, the William's Cr. Tr. We all met and some of our group backtracked up the William's Cr. Tr. to the steeper part and returned to the car. Tim skied about 6 miles, Cliff Skied 5.0 miles and Marlene skied about 4.6 miles. Others skied similar distances. Tim then skied a couple of miles down the road. There was a downed log
just below the steep start of the Lower Aspen Loop but otherwise there was
enough snow. There was about 15" of snow at the Big Fir TH with 6"
of "new". |
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12/24/03 |
Tue. Pvt.
Ski: Marlene, Cliff, Brenda & her dog "Ibis" skied down the
right fork of the Meadow Trail and around the Wapiti Loop and
followed it back to the road. We then skied out and back on the Upper
Aspen Loop. We'd skied this before but someone had skied it since, and
they continued down the William's Cr. Tr. Thus the William's Cr. Tr. has been
skied all the way down from the junction with the "Upper Aspen
Loop". When we got back to the road, Marlene skied back up the
"left fork" to the car. Brenda, "Ibis", and I skied down
the Meadow Trail to the Lower Aspen Loop via the "William's Cr.
Rd. Cutoff". Marlene Skied about 3.3 miles and Cliff & Brenda Skied about 4.2 miles in 80 minutes. |
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12/26/03 |
Fri. Pvt.
Ski: Marlene, and Cliff skied up and back on the Buckhorn Tr. from the
Meadow TH. We found that the large log jam had been cleared but there were six
new trees across the trail. We cut them so now all but the upper 0.3 mile has
been checked and is clear as far as I could tell. The snow was great. It took
about an hour of skiing to break trail and ski up about 1.5 miles and 30 min.
to ski back. There was about 21" of snow at the Meadow TH, and about
18" at the Big Fir TH. |
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12/27/03 |
Sat. Pvt. Ski: Marlene, Cliff, and "Ibis" drove past William's Cr. Summit and out the Leesburg Mine road about 0.6 miles past the Deep Cr. Rd. Jct. to the point where the Moccasin Cr. Rd. bears left. There wasn't an adequate parking area so I started shoveling when the Mine's snowplow came by. He plowed a small parking area. Firewood cutters are continuing down the unplowed Moccasin Cr. Rd., so there is only room for about one car to park here. We walked past the Jct. to a rail fence. Using skins, we skied around the south side of the rail fence and up what I call the "Right Fork" of the lower North Moccasin Tr. Much of this "fork" is in a large meadow with some steep pitches. It's about a mile up to the end (or start coming down) of the meadow where the "Left Fork" takes off to the right. (The "Left" is based on the assumption that folks will normally ski down this trail.) This junction is not marked. There is a sign a100' or so back on the trail but not where one can see it. Sometimes we ski up the Left Fork and down the right, but I like to ski back in my tracks. This time it worked, allowing me to make several turns. I think we'd better wait a week or so before we ski all the way down the North Moccasin Tr. I only measured 7" of snow in the trail under the trees. Parts of this trail are quite rocky too. The general snow depth is about 12" - 15" at the Trailhead. Snow at William's Cr. Summit was about 20". On the way up we saw Gene
& Glen and they skied the upper Meadow Trails and part of the way up the
Buckhorn Tr. |
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12/28/03 |
Sun. Pvt. Ski: Lou, Denise, Merna & her daughter skied the Wapiti Loop and Meadow Trail down to the Lower Aspen Loop. Lou told me that he ferried John up to William's Cr. Summit to ski the William's Cr. Trail and possibly the Perreau Meadows Trail. I'll see if I can find out what the conditions were. |
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Abbreviations Used In The Above:
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Cr. |
Creek. |
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Grp. Ski |
One of our scheduled group trips. Some may only want to read the group ski reports. Do a Find > Grp to do this. |
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Mt. |
Mountain. |
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Pvt. Ski |
Not a group ski. Anyone that has an interesting trip should let me know and I'll add it. If possible indicate the snow depths and conditions. |
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Rd. |
Road. |
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TH |
Trailhead. |
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Word Count: 6,944 |
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Web Location |
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Last revised on web: 1/ * |
03/05/2004 17:50 AM * |
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Previously revised on web: |
02/26/2004 10:35 AM * |
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Source Document, Last Revision: |
03/05/2004 17:50 AM * |
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Home Page Location |
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Contact: |
Email is: ckeene41-b4 followed by an @ and then yahoo.com |
1/ Items with an "*" were
added since previous revision. *
Two ** indicate added to file but not yet on
web.