On Thursday December 8th at 23:00h, I set out to Sandy, Oregon in the 1992 Subaru Loyale to regroup at 06:00 Friday morning with the ADF Crew, Willow, and Sean in his 2005 Subaru BajaSTi on Mattracks.
It seemed to be only the beginning of winter in Washington State with temperatures resting around zero degrees making it very susceptible to freezing rain. Conditions had worsened South of
Seattle with a fresh 1’ blanket of snow fall across Interstate 5.
Arriving in Sandy, Oregon at 03:00, the streets were covered with a layer of ice making it a good choice travel at night to prevent anymore risk with other vehicles. I drifted for a parking lot to get 3 hours of sleep before awakening to meet up with everyone at 6:00.
Arriving at Little John Sno Park, temperatures dropped to -8C (17.6F). As Sean & Willow unloaded the vehicles, I took the opportunity of the empty parking space in the Subaru Loyale reminding myself of a World Rally Driver. Beauty surrounded us following Sean’s tracks, which helped with traction of the fresh snow fall that had fallen the previous night.
The ADF boys didn’t waste time for firewood and they already had their chain saws cutting dead wood in the forest. Just before dusk, Sean and I took a trip with the Subaru BajaSTi in at least 2 feet of fresh powder with Braden Anderson following behind on his snowboard. As we returned by dusk, we collected more firewood and prepared some warm tea and dinner. The moon shined amongst the moving clouds before a restful night.
It had snowed at least 6” by morning and the cloud had moved on to bring upon a beautiful sunny view of Mt. Hood in the distance. As we drove down the mountain, we were challenged by two steep hills. Little did we know the highway conditions would put a delay on our trip home.
