Oak Creek Road - Bethel Ridge — Friday, Feb. 14, 2014

Central Washington > Yakima

I led my 4th Winter Walk of the season for the Cascadians up the Oak Creek Road on this foggy, snowy day. There was not much snow on the road at the beginning, but just enough to cover patches of ice which made it a little treacherous at times. We walked as far as the mouth of Hoover Canyon (3.7 mi) and found a bare spot under some Ponderosa pines for lunch. There was probably 2" or so of snow on the ground at this point. We spent maybe 45 min for lunch, then headed back down the road. It had been snowing heavily all day, but about 1/2 mile from the end it suddenly let up and the fog cleared. The only wildlife we saw was a white rabbit eating some hay at the beginning of the road, a few birds, and a couple of squirrels. By the time we got down to Naches, the snow had turned to rain.