Home»All Photographs»Gone Shoot'n»2021»20210116 Sawmill (from Chester)

20210116 | Sawmill snowshoeing (from Chester Lake parking lot) | 2099 max | 1909 TH | 11.2km | 327 TA | w/ Shannon

Some fresh snow (20cm or so) in the last couple days in this area made it the logical destination. Seemingly we weren’t the only ones with this thought. The TCH slowed to a crawl 3km from the hwy 40 exit with all the traffic exiting onto the stupid overpass equipped with a stop sign – infrastructure that just can’t adequately handle the volume. Traffic dropped away at each exit with a good amount trailing on down toward the interlaces area. Chester parking lot was filled to overcapacity by the end of the day but we only saw six people in two parties all day, even cutting some fresh tracks in the Sawmill area. Seemly most still go to the popular places like Chester Lake.

Sun for the first 2/3 of the day was nice, as was the fresh snow. Only closer to parking had the trails been postholed by boots so pretty smooth sailing. The Mt Murray viewpoint was the high point of the day with a nice view of Mt Murray and it’s neighbors. Mt. Murray and Cegnefs had been an August 2020 Super Saturday. With a handful of maps from a variety of sources and the trail markers (none in total agreement, partially due to the newish trails in parts of this area) gave us some routefinding challenges. Strange that in places they had gone to the trouble of setting 4x4’s in the ground but now signs. Damn slacking volunteer trail crews! The sun and solitude made for a great day in the mountains.