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Scott Hovis and I want you to snowshoe. For starters, we’re going to take you to the Marilyn Lakes at Willamette Pass.
Hovis is the white-haired guy you might have seen striding around Eugene with a long wooden walking stick and a hat. He looks as determined as Johnny Appleseed, marching through town.
Hovis walks for exercise, not apples. He and I agree: Keeping active is the best way to stay healthy, both physically and mentally. In winter, when walking is less fun, we put on snowshoes.
What, you’ve never snowshoed before? Don’t worry, it’s much easier than skiing or snowboarding. You don’t need special boots. You don’t need lessons. Beginners quickly learn that snowshoeing is like wearing clown shoes.
You might stomp around a little awkwardly at first, but you’re unlikely to fall down. And snowshoes have sharp metal cleats on the bottom, so you can walk across steep icy spots without slipping. The one thing you can’t do is walk backwards. To turn around, walk in a circle.
Hovis leads snowshoeing trips for the Obsidians, a Eugene outdoor club. But he doesn’t really want complete beginners signing up for his trips.
Instead, he recommends trying out snowshoes at the Marilyn Lakes. The loop trail here is open year-round, but no one seems to notice it in summer because it’s too easy. In winter, the loop continues to a rustic shelter at Gold Lake and returns on a snowed-under road.
Hovis maintains winter trails as a High Cascade Volunteer. Every few weeks he checks on his chosen trail at Salt Creek Falls. He picks up trash. He replaces trail signs if they’re missing. But he doesn’t suggest that beginners start out at Salt Creek Falls. His trail there scrambles along the edge of tall icy cliffs. Instead, he says, start with the easier tour to the Marilyn Lakes and the Gold Lake shelter.
To find the starting point, drive Highway 58 east for about 60 miles. Half a mile before the Willamette Pass ski area, turn right into the Gold Lake Sno-Park. You’ll need a Sno-Park permit for your car here. Buy one in advance for $5 at an outdoor store or online.
Beside the parking lot you’ll find a log cabin staffed by helpful volunteers who offer hot chocolate, maps and advice.
But don’t put on your snowshoes yet. First, tackle the most dangerous part of the trip — crossing Highway 58 on foot. Wait until there are no cars in sight. Once you’re on the far side, snowshoe past a gate and follow a snowy road for 0.2 mile. Look for a blue signboard on the left that points to the start of the Marilyn Lakes loop.
Blue plastic diamonds mark the route. High Cascade Volunteers nail these markers along the trail so you can usually see one in front of you and one behind you. At sharp turns there’s often a special marker with a black arrow. The markers are attached to trees with aluminum nails that aren’t pounded all the way in, so the tree has room to grow.
After descending gradually through the woods for half a mile on the trail you’ll reach the lower Marilyn Lake. Then the path crosses to the upper lake and follows its shore to an inlet creek. If the weather’s clear, this is where you can expect your first good view of Diamond Peak.
I remember one January when there wasn’t enough snow to snowshoe. Instead the weather had been intensely cold. So I hiked in to the Marilyn Lakes with Janell and our two kids. Then we put on ice skates and zoomed across the ice. It’s rare in the Oregon Cascades that ice skating is safe. Usually snow insulates the lake’s surface, covering a layer of soft slush. Before venturing onto any lake, jab the surface with a pole to check that there’s at least six inches of ice underneath. Even then it’s best to stick to the shallows near shore.
After admiring the view at the far end of the Marilyn Lakes, continue on the trail another 0.3 mile to a snowed-under campground road. Here you’ll find the Gold Lake shelter, a rustic open-sided hut with a wood stove. Camping used to be allowed in the shelter, but now it’s just for day use. The policy changed because people burned up too much firewood trying to keep warm at night.
You may find that the shelter’s firewood has been spray-painted orange. The Forest Service sometimes does this so they can track firewood thieves who drive in just before the first snowfall.
After lunch at the shelter, explore the snowed-under Gold Lake Campground. Start by following the road a hundred feet to a bridge over the lake’s outlet creek. Icy water gurgles past snowy boulders that look like giant mushrooms. Then follow the creek upstream a few hundred feet to the lake itself.
Gold Lake is a mile long. If you’re adventurous and the lake is frozen solid you might trek to the far shore to explore the Gold Lake bog. The sphagnum marsh there is a floating raft of moss so thick that small trees are able to grow on top of it. In Alaska, bogs like this are called muskeg, and are common. In Oregon, they’re rare, and weird. A Bigfoot hunter once told me he suspected Sasquatch was hiding in the Gold Lake bog.
If you escape Bigfoot, return to the shelter and follow the snowed-under road back to your car.
Hiking is therapy, not just for muscles but for the brain. Nothing cures mental stress like a walk in the woods — unless you actually do meet Sasquatch.
In winter, don’t stop hiking. Instead strap on a pair of snowshoes. Hike through the snow to the Marilyn Lakes and the Gold Lake shelter.
