Trip Report
Basic Snowshoe - Kendall First Knob
Seven of us enjoyed a snowshoe to great views and lunch atop Kendall Knob on a beautiful, sunny day.
Rachel Rubin
- Sun, Feb 6, 2022
- Basic Snowshoe - Kendall First Knob
- Kendall: Knobs, Lakes & Loops
- Snowshoeing
- Successful
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- Snow and ice on road
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The trail was in good condition. The snow was hard packed for most of the way, although we got to break our own trail on the split to the knob. The trees had an accumulation of wet snow that was starting to shed as the day warmed up. The slopes along the upper part of the road showed evidence of prior rollerballs, but we observed none which appeared new and did not see any occur during our trip.
Parking Conditions:
We arrived at 7:45 am to park in Gold Creek Sno-Park. parking conditions were a bit challenging. The small lot that is usually plowed by the Kendall Peak Lakes TH has not been plowed, and the entrance is blocked by a snow berm from the plowing of the road itself. It is passable on foot to access the TH.
There was a fair amount of crusty snow on the access road, both between the tire ruts in the driving lane, and fully covering the parking at the side of the road. Later in the day, the snow was more slushy but still made traction difficult even for AWD vehicles. While one in our party managed okay in a sedan with AWD, high clearance and AWD/4WD is recommended. While everyone in our group managed to get in/out just fine (some with a bit of maneuvering), there were others there that day that needed to shovel the snow in order to get their vehicles out of their parking spot. The plowed are of the access road was fairly narrow, so I recommend turning around before you park so that it is easier to just pull out in the right direction when leaving.
The Trip:
We got on trail a little after 8:00 am, and put on our snowshoes at the beginning even though much of the way was do-able with micro spikes. The route on our ascent was still shaded, so the snow stayed crusty and hard packed. We took a couple of short breaks along the way for clothing adjustments and snacks. The split off to the knob was fresh snow, and we had fun making our own trail.
We arrived at the Knob around 10:30. We took a lunch break there, and got to enjoy the views to ourselves for a while.
We lingered after our lunches, and some napped and basked in the sunshine!
Before heading back down, we had a group discussion about whether to take the side trip to the lakes. We decided against it since the goal of snowshoeing to a sunny spot with views of the snow-covered mountains had been accomplished.
As we got ready to head back down, one of our participants began serenading us with his recorder! Being accompanied by wonderful music as we snowshoed back down in the sun, with views of the mountains. was definitely a highlight of the trip!
We were back at the TH shortly after 1pm, and went back to our cars after a quick debriefing. I waited to make sure everyone got theirs cars out of their parking spots, before heading home. We had a fun day out with a great group of people! It was new trail for some in our group, and also the first snowshoe of this winter for some. Mother Nature certainly delivered on a spectacular day for our adventure!