![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.luterra.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/P1030319.jpg\" "\\"P1030319\\"")
<\/a>Looking south toward Mount Bachelor.<\/p><\/div>\n
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The last part of the trail followed the closed-in-winter Cascade Lakes highway, which is groomed as a ski and snowmobile superhighway.\u00a0 Easy to coast along in the shadow of the Three Sisters.<\/p>\n South Sister on the left, with Middle and North Sister behind. Broken Top on the right.<\/p><\/div>\n On Tuesday we left our beloved yurts behind and set out for snowshoeing on Santiam Pass and a soak at Cougar hot springs.\u00a0 The weather was amazing – 33 degrees with no wind and bright high-altitude sun felt more like 60 degrees – comfortable with a sweater and no hat.\u00a0 For the first half through an open burned-over area we didn’t even wear our snowshoes as the crust was strong enough to support us.<\/p>\n Looking north toward the jagged Three-fingered Jack<\/p><\/div>\n The trees were covered in fine ice crystals which drifted down as the temperature rose.<\/p>\n I don’t have any photos from the hot springs, but we all enjoyed it despite our stay being cut short as the rules forbid after-dark soaking.\u00a0 We reconvened at the Pizza Research Institute in Eugene for some most delicious unusual pizza (with spiced butternut squash as a main ingredient).\u00a0 As it turned out we missed a cold 20-degree night in Corvallis, and we returned to find an inch of ice on the hot tub.\u00a0 We burned through about 80 pounds of wood to get the house back to a comfortable temperature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last year a group of us took off the weekend after finals for three days on the sunny eastern side of the Cascades, sleeping in yurts at Tumalo State Park and skiing\/snowshoeing during the day.\u00a0 We enjoyed it so much … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n