Beautiful clear skies and no wind, a layer of fresh snow high on the mountains? Time to break out the snowshoes.

With the gate closed at the Sandy River, I parked along the road and crossed the road, cutting through the forest to find the Horseshoe Ridge Trail. The air was brisk, below freezing, and the log crossing the creek had a fine sheen of ice covering it, so I was glad to have microspikes to throw on to secure my footing to get across Lost Creek. I climbed up the ridge on the trail, into the snow. Only the footprints of forest creatures in the snow shared the trail with me. I saw no one all day. Great views of Mt Hood awaited at the peak, and with still a good amount of day left, I decided to make a loop, descending the on the Cast Creek Trail, but turned back after a mile where the hillside became much steeper with brush draped about along the slopes of Zigzag Mountain, making foot poor and the going annoying. Hiking alone, it felt best to turn back and return via my route up.