Trip Report
I was in Twin Falls for the Christmas holiday. Not much was going on Christmas Eve day, so I planned a snowshoe in the Goose Creek mountains south of Twin Falls. I had picked out an un-named peak, referred to as Deadline Ridge North, as my end goal. While un-named, the peak does have 500+ feet of prominence, so it seemed like a worthy goal. I also figured the distance (about 3 miles each way) would be fitting with a late start and potenially crappy snow conditions. My plan was to park at the Diamond Field Jack parking lot for snowmobilers and take a groomed trail that left from the parking lot. The trail would get me to with a few hundred vertical feet of the highpoint and only require 1/4 mile or so off-trail snowshoe.
Since my brother-in-law owns a Vizla (Brody) that loves to get out, I stopped by and picked up Brody at Elevation Sports on my way out of town. Brody and I arrived at the trailhead around noon. I left snowshoes off to start out the hike, so we immediately were on our way. I was expecting sunny skies, but there was a cloud bank over the higher Goose Creek peaks. Oh well, at least we were out in the mountains. Brody was having a blast, running around like crazy on the groomed trail and even venturing into the 2-foot deep powder off-trail from time-to-time and swimming to get back out of it.
In the fog and with only a map, I was rather impressed with myself to be able to navigate to the exact spot where we needed to leave the road and hit the peak. I put on my snowshoes for the first time all year and started off in the snow. It was steep and the snow was soft, but after 10 minutes of hard work, I was on the upper slopes of the peak where the wind had scoured more snow and the going was easier. Brody and I summitted on the highest point we could find. While I snapped photos, Brody dug in the snow to build a temporary napping place. The skies were clearing a bit and I even caught a few glimpses of the Magic Valley below. However, the wind was chilling, so we headed down soon after arriving.
The fog cleared on the hike out and I was impressed with the views to be had. Everything was coated in a white frost and was in stark contrast to the blue skies above. Once in the vehicle, Brody didn't move an inch the whole ride back to town. It was a good day for both of us.
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