Cross Country Skiing Bennett Ridge Trail

Published on 01/21/2008

After snowshoeing up near Seattle on the 5th and having a great time we decided it would be fun to try some cross country skiing the next weekend, so we did. :) Kara and Cara and I had decided to go for it while we were together in Seattle and on the drive home, and we invited Kara's dad and sister, Brian and Laura, and I invited my friend Tasha for a grand total of six of us. The night before the trip Cara and her sister had invited Kara, Laura and I and our friend Christine over to her sister's place for a homemade Korean dinner. That was really nice--very tasty, one of my first times trying real Korean food--and we got to work out some of the last minute details for the trip.

Initially we decided on a route starting from Bennett Pass Sno-Park that would take us to Hood River Meadows and Sahalie Falls, but when we got up there the Sno-Park configuration had changed and they were detouring people to an alternate location. Since none of us had ever been there before, we couldn't really tell where the trail we were looking for started, so we just followed some other skiers on the only path we saw taking off from the Sno-Park. When we got back and had a chance to look through the book I have we discovered the route we followed was Bennett Ridge Trail, and the one we had originally wanted was actually across Hwy 35 from the original Sno-Park, which may or may not have been the one we ended up parking at. Anyway, the trail we went on was very nice; it felt more like an actual trail than a snow covered road. I'm definitely glad we stumbled upon it. It was a great trip. Someday I would really like to check out the one we originally looked at because it is supposed to have wonderful views of Mt Hood in clear weather, and it's always neat to see waterfalls in the winter.

When we returned our gear to Winter Fox in Sandy where we had rented it, we talked to the owner, Barbara, about how the day went. We had asked her earlier about the trail and she said it was a really nice one, so we told her that we ended up going on a different one because we weren't sure how to find the one we wanted. She said that next time we came in she would draw us a map, 'cause it was pretty tricky to find. She's a super nice person. I've enjoyed renting stuff there and talking to her about the trails and our experiences. I guess she is retiring this year and is going to close up shop. It'll be sad to not be able to drop in and chat with her anymore about our trips, but I'm sure she'll enjoy having more time to enjoy the wintry landscapes herself. :) Well, I haven't actually talked about the trip itself yet, and that's partially on purpose. I'll point you to the photos and you can read about our adventure with visual aids.