B
Saturday, February 27, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Jayson Jacoby/Baker
City Herald
Snow is nearly
deep enough
to bury fences
along the Tuck-
er Flat Road in
southern Union
County near
Pilcher Creek
Reservoir.
T INKERING
W ITH T HE
T OPOGRAPHY
■ Snowshoeing in deep, fresh snow is a workout, but the
return leg is less taxing, even on uphill stretches, if you
retrace the trail you created with your earlier toil
S
nowshoes can’t
hike last Sunday, Feb. 21,
defy gravity, but
ON THE TRAIL near Phillips Reservoir
they do tinker
southwest of Baker City, is
JAYSON JACOBY
with topography.
especially notable when the
But only if you back-
snow is deep and soft.
track.
The reason is simple physics.
Generally I disdain the practice of retrac-
(Well, it’s physics anyway. A subject which
ing my steps on a hike.
even in its most basic form is for me not
It feels too much like drudgery, and hiking, simple but incomprehensible.)
it seems to me, ought never to resemble work.
Snowshoes, however useful, will still sink
I prefer instead the loop.
deeply into freshly fallen, unconsolidated
I like to see something new, to step on fresh snow.
ground with each stride.
They will “fl oat” to an extent, at least
But occasionally I make an exception while compared with a hiker with unadorned
snowshoeing.
boots, but they can’t keep you on the surface
Sometimes it’s a matter of safety.
any more than a boulder can keep you from
Even when it’s snowing and blowing, con- drowning.
stantly resculpting and smoothing the snow
Which is to say, snowshoeing at the end
surface, snowshoes generally plunge deep
of a week in which up to 4 feet of snow fell
enough to gouge out a temporary trail that’s in the mountains of Northeast Oregon will
easy to follow back to the start so long as you prompt your heart to beat well above its
head back within a few hours.
normal rate.
This is much more reliable than leaving a
It’s diffi cult not to overdress while snow-
trail of bread crumbs.
shoeing in fresh powder. Even when the tem-
You’ll recall how well that tactic worked
perature is well below freezing you’ll likely
out for a pair of siblings with rhyming fi rst
feel sweat beading on your forehead while
names.
the car is still in sight.
The other advantage of the out-and-back
(Sweating, of course, is something you
snowshoe hike — and this is the one where should strive to avoid during the winter,
the tinkering with topography comes into
because damp clothing greatly increases your
play — is that the second half is apt to be
risk of hypothermia. The concept of layering
less taxing physically.
— bringing multiple garments that you can
That’s sometimes the case even with
doff and don as needed to keep from over-
snow-free hikes, to be sure.
heating — is rarely so valuable as it is when
If your route begins with a steep climb,
you’re snowshoeing.)
then the return leg, when gravity is a tail-
Once you’ve hiked as far as you’d like — or
wind rather than a headwind, is less apt to
as far as you’re able, given the rapid caloric
leave you gasping for air.
burn — you simply turn around and fol-
But snowshoes can pull off that trick on
low the path that, in your toil, you’ve blazed
fl at ground.
through the implacable snow.
They can even make an uphill section less
The difference in diffi culty between the
daunting than the downhill.
outbound and the inbound legs of such a hike
This effect, as I was reminded during a
can scarcely be exaggerated.
Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald
The snow was untouched along the Porcupine Road, near Pilcher Creek Reservoir, on
the morning of Feb. 20. The road, which leads into the Wallowa-Whitman National For-
est, is well-suited for snowshoeing.
And the effect has not a great
deal to do with the lay of the land.
If you’ve trod across a fl at
meadow, the walk back will be
easier because, instead of plung-
ing a foot or so into the powder,
your snowshoes will land on the
much fi rmer snow you com-
pressed earlier.
And if there was a downhill
section on the fi rst half of your
hike, it, too, will be less taxing in
reverse, even though you’re gain-
ing elevation.
Less taxing, that is, if you take
advantage of the trail.
You could of course eschew the
path you created and keep plod-
ding through untrammeled snow.
This is tempting if you’re trying
to maximize your workout.
But I prefer to think of the
easier hike back to the car as a
reward.
I also enjoy looking back at the
trail I’ve made, which in deep
snow resembles a very narrow
bobsled run.
See Snowshoe/Page 2B
If You Go ...
Pilcher Creek Reservoir is in southern Union County,
about 10 miles west of North Powder.
To get there, exit Interstate 84 at North Powder and
drive west on River Lane for about 7.9 miles. Just
before entering the Elkhorn Wildlife Area, turn right,
uphill, onto Tucker Flat Road. The road is plowed for
about 2.5 miles, ending near a homestead on the
north side of road. The road continues west for about
a third of a mile, then takes a sharp left turn. The road
continues into the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.
While you’re in the area, check out the Elkhorn Wildlife
Area, where the Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife feeds alfalfa hay to elk to keep them from
marauding ranchers’ haystacks in the valley below. At
the junction where the Tucker Flat Road starts, drive
west a short distance to the kiosk on the left side of the
road. There’s ample parking here, and an outhouse.
Most days there’s a herd of more than 100 Rocky
Mountain elk in the meadow below along the North
Fork of Anthony Creek. The Wildlife Area crew doles
out hay from the barn beside the creek. You can see
the trails the elk have made in the snow between the
meadow and the forest beyond.