February 27, 2016.

6 mi | 300′ ele. gain | 4:15 hrs.

I had been trying to lead hikes for the Mazamas from lowly Corvallis. It was only kind of working. I started out choosing locations that were somewhat mutually convenient to Portlanders and those of us in the valley. But these places soon ran out and I focused instead on leading things I wanted to do. Thus, I landed on the Brandenburg Loop for an easy snowshoe.

My two takers were people I’d met through my business endeavors and fun ladies, to boot. We took off on a gray and dreary day from the Ray Benson Sno Park, which already had several vehicles parked there (including some school buses!).

We snowshoed on tracked out, packed snow, following the South Loop route. About halfway through the loop we reached the Brandenburg Shelter, a three-sided wooden warming hut with a wood stove. It was still stocked up with wood so we made a fire and settled in for lunch.

We retreated back to the parking lot, wondering what everyone who’d parked at the lot was doing, as we hardly saw anyone along the trail. Perhaps they were on snowmobiles. Yuck.

I didn’t attract the big crowds for this one but it would be a bit of a haul from Portland to do this mediocre snowshoe route. I’ll have to get creative in planning future hikes from Corvallis.