Trip Report

I hope the rest of the trips this year don't go the way this one did!! We had originally planned for two groups to go to the top of Spencer Butte, one led by Janet Jacobsen from the main lot, and the other led by me at the 52nd Street parking lot. Then came the ice storm and 7 days of trail maintenance. Then came the confusion. The city put up "Trail Closed" signs that were widely ignored, and when I called about them, I was told that the trail system would be closed "Oh, much more than a month." The main lot trail was open, but nothing else--officially. I was getting emails telling me not to lead from 52nd Street and others telling me I should lead from 52nd Street. The situation changed daily. I finally said I would comply with the city for an Obsidian hike, although I thought the trails were just fine. I moved my hike to 9 am from the main lot, a half hour prior to Janet's. Then the weather changed. Overnight, rain and then snow fell, so that the South Hills had a couple inches of slushy snow. Janet cancelled her hike, but I, living on the flatlands, figured I could dredge up my past extensive snow driving experience (40 years ago) and get my non-snow tire equipped automobile up there.

I actually did get to the trailhead area (not the language here) early, and Dave Strutin and Marguerite Cooney showed up. Doreen drove up to cancel. The gate was closed, so we parked on the road, which had snow and slush present. We climbed up to the top with little problem, although there was moderate snow on the trail. Dave Lodeesen was on top, having come from 52nd Street. We had an interesting stay up there with wind, snow showers, fog, and some blue sky. We carefully descended to the Tie Trail, going to Dave's car, where he would drive us back up to our cars. On the way, down, we met a group of 4: Mari, June, Aliette, and Kathy. Mari offered us a chance to summit again, but we had enough. They signed in on the trail, and I hope they made it up. Had I been a better leader, I would have made sure they got to the top and then on the Tie Trail and the rest of the descent looked for signs of trouble. Instead, I went straight down, got to the car, was pleased the roads were in better shape, and left. Welcome, 2017!!