COUGAR — After snowshoeing for a couple of hours through a blizzard, I finally trudged into the June Lake basin.
But something looked odd. I remembered the little pond on the southern side of Mount St. Helens to be rimmed by scrappy trees last summer, but none was visible.
I figured out the foliage was buried. The official snow depth at June Lake was almost 11 feet that day.
Heavy precipitation in March and early April combined with chilly temperatures have brought steady snow to the Cascades.
At June Lake on Wednesday there were 144 inches on the ground, with 20 inches having fallen since Monday morning.
The snow depth in the lower Columbia River basin is 28 percent above normal, according to Melissa Webb of the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service.
While road No. 83 is open, motorists need to be ready for all conditions, including 12 inches of new snow. Marble Mountain Sno-Park had 7 feet of snow last week. Cougar Sno-Park had 4 feet.
Road No. 8303, which heads about one mile toward Ape Cave, hasn’t been plowed. Twice this season, a rescue team has had to help people who walked up to the cave but couldn’t make it out.
Road No. 8303 makes a good outing for properly dressed people with snowshoes or cross-country skis, though it gets steep for a stretch just after the cave. Snowmobilers are not allowed on the road.
Snow doesn’t accumulate as deeply near Spirit Lake Memorial Highway because there isn’t as much vegetation to prevent melting.
However, there’s still plenty of white stuff if you travel high enough.
About a foot of snow covered the base of Weyerhaeuser Road 3344 near Bear Creek, where sledders sometimes congregate. But the snow deepened quickly as I skied uphill, with about 4 feet of snow atop Elk Rock, which rises to 4,200 feet.
A few miles to the west, the runaway truck ramp that’s sometimes popular with sledders was melted clear, however.
Skamania County will continue to plow Wind River road No. 30 to the upper Wind River winter sports area, but not the sno-parks. Chains or snow tires are recommended.
With all the spring blizzards, hiking trails and higher level roads won’t melt off until early summer.
The Forest Service still plans to open the Johnston Ridge Observatory at the upper end of Spirit Lake Memorial Highway in time for the “It’s a Blast” events on May 14.
“Sometimes we do have to go up and break through some drifts to provide access,” said Ken Sandusky of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
It may be July before Road No. 99 is open all the way to Windy Ridge, he said.
The good news is that Gifford Pinchot forest roads apparently made it through winter without major damage from slides, he added.
