Snowshoeing Commonwealth Basin

Map of my return trek from the end of my hike at Snoqualmie pass to back to my Honda Fit.

This was a solo snowshoe training outing -- gaining more experience, particularly with the amount of clothing to wear. I had more than enough. It took a while to find a good spot for parking the car; my first try was pretty iffy, but it was the only one on the main street through the pass community. Afterward I tried the Fit's ability to make it up a sloping driveway and I discovered a neglected parking lot. I couldn't believe my good luck, but there were no  signs prohibiting parking. I walked from there about a half mile to the trailhead. There was actually a set of stairs carved out of the snow leading up off the highway, and a staging area where Forest Service volunteers were prepping a guided tour. Leading off from that spot were trails that had already been packed down by previous snow shoes. That was fortunate, because the snow was very powdery, and I was packing 20 pounds, putting me well over the 200-pound rating for my shoes.

View from a private street on prime real estate at the summit.

When I first parked in the last spot on the main street, I walked up a snow-covered street into a developed community, where a resident directed me to the point under the freeway leading to Alpental. I drove there and found out that my only parking choice was back on the summit street. Eventually I got lucky and found the nearly empty and slightly hidden parking lot.

Cars lined the main drag at the summit, taking up every obvious parking space.

In the photo above is a mountain that I have known since I attended college and drove back and forth between Seattle and Spokane. The trailhead to Commonwealth Basin is near the road that passes the base of that mountain.

A closer view of the mountain, near the trailhead.

Look closely and you will see how prior hikers packed down a path in the powdery snow.

Hidden hazard. That hole was about 15 feet deep.

One point of the hike was to learn about hazards. The photo above was taken very gingerly, because it shows one of several holes in a row leading up to one side of the trail, and there were others on the other side. The hole was perhaps 15 feet deep and indicated that I was actually hiking over a snow bridge. This picture was taken after another couple passed me on their ascent; one of the individuals was vision impaired -- virtually blind, so we made sure to keep him on the bridge over this mini chasm. Two out of five of us managed to take a tumble at this spot, but not directly on the bridge, which was probably a good thing. Is someone doing to walk over that bridge in warmer weather?

My snow shoes performed well, as long as I stayed on a packed trail. They  were even useful for climbing some steep parts of the trail. But they are not mountain show shoes, and I made a point of reversing direction when the hillside became more steep than a staircase. I met a gentleman with mountain shoes -- those cost twice what I paid.


On the return trip, just before rejoining the highway I followed a side trail and discovered people building an igloo. They were planning camping for the night. They had a snow shovel for carving out blocks of snow, which they had packed down by walking over the powder in their snow shoes.

Building an igloo out of snow packed down by tromping on powder in snow shoes

Statistics for the day:

Distance: 2.3 miles
Elevation gain: At least 220 feet. 
Location: Snoqualmie Pass 
Conditions: Cold; powdery snow; packed trails; occasionally clear sky
Load: Probably 21 pounds
:

Statistics, year to date:

Distance: 20.1 miles

Elevation gain: 5,320 feet