Bucks Lake

Power went out yesterday around 1:30 pm. There was a PG&E snowcat crew up here doing preventive maintenance, and they soon found a tree down across the line on Quarry Road. It took until today at 4:30 for everything to be fixed. Whew!

The summit parking area is pretty much full, and rather chaotic. Since there is much unplowed snow, and buried cars, you have to take your chances. You might get lucky going to the summit, or you might just park at Big Creek. That road is groomed.

And it is COLD. 12 last night, and I am betting on 6 tonight. Be prepared. All the groomed roads are in pretty good shape, and there is a ton of powder to ride if you want that.

Remember, Lakeshore is open now, so give them your business. And….., Happy New Year!!

The camera is NOT out of focus. It is snowing that hard. We are keeping the big light on so you can watch. That is, as long as our internet connection holds up.

Parking still generally available at the Summit and Big Creek, and the groomer is running, and after this storm, the weather looks good…….

Let’s recap: Last week we had a period where we got mixed rain and snow that resulted in about 2′ of a sort of ice layer. Then, on top of that, we got 26′ of really nice powder. Then a couple of warmer days changed the sugary nature of that powder to more like powdered sugar. (You cooks know what that means). So it was this strange combination of great powder and snow that packs as you ride it. What to say?? Enjoy.

The boys have been out in the groomer, and all the local roads, plus 4 Trees, Big Creek, the Highlands, and the Dam Road are all done.

The County has done a great job with both parking areas, and both are as clean as they can be given that it has snowed…..

You can park at either area and have a good ride in. It does not seem there will be a huge amount of snow in the Christmas day storm, so I would go ahead and park where I felt like it.

Wow. I sure seems like we are heading for a holiday season that is one for the books…..

See you on the snow. It should be SO good…….

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and most of Sunday we had alternating snow and rain. That made a base about a foot deep that is mostly like concrete. Then it turned cold and snowed light fluffy powder from about 4 pm yesterday to this very minute (1:30 pm). So there is now 18″, and growing, of very nice powder on top of that base. I rode up Mile High and over to Haskins, just having a great time. Couldn’t see, but, who cares?

Now the groomer is out, so now we have groomed roads, fresh powder, more on the way.

Heaven.

Check out the weather page. The barometer ht 29.15 a couple of hours ago, and just now (4 pm) it is up to 29.24. For you folks who do not know much about weather, that is very, very low, signifying some very heavy weather yet to come. It has also been very windy up in the trees, though our anemometer does not show it because we are somewhat sheltered. For reference, anemometers along the Sierra crest are recording 155 mph gusts, with steady long gusts up to 124 mph.

So, shaping up for a more than white Christmas for a bunch of us…….

Nothing is as sure as change. The Snowdrifters meeting time has been changed to 1pm. Still January 1 at Lakeshore.

Since it is now Saturday, here’s a little update. We did get 6″ of snow Friday, and it changed to rain last night. Today we have had “thick rain” at 34 degrees all day. The forecast seems to be leaning to a return to snow now on Monday, which would be a day earlier than expected before. If the moisture content stays as rich as it seems it will, that will translate into feet of new snow by next Thursday. I don’t want to say how many…. I’m hoping for “just right.”

So here’s a report on where we are at right now. You would think that with the huge amount of early season snow, we would be well covered with it. That snow was very dry and fluffy, and was going to compress. Then, during the following two weeks, we got about 5″ of rain, which compressed it even more, ending with the almost 2″ of rain yesterday. We finished the day with 4 – 6″ of nice powder, and that saved us, as a lot of pavement was appearing.

My best guess on weather for the next 7 days is that we will get maybe a foot or more of snow on Friday; then Saturday, Sunday, and Monday we will get as much as 3 – 5″ of rain. And then I HOPE we finish up with snow Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Like I said, I HOPE.

Also, we have been putting out the word that the groomer would be permitted to start on 12-15. That was just an estimate. There is a state bureaucrat sitting in an office somewhere in Sacramento who will decide when we can start grooming, and it is all supposed to be related to snow depth. With that in mind, we would not be grooming now, even with permission, because there is just not enough snow. I just hope that we will not have delays once the snow is adequate.

Finally, for Snowdrifters members, and persons who are interested, or who might want to join, our next meeting is January 1 at Lakeshore, 10 am. I suspect there will be a lot of coffee available…………