December 31, 2024—While many celebrated New Year’s Eve attending parties, I chose to spend the day with a close friend snowshoeing at Big Springs. I came back to Big Springs because a year ago when I was here the snow was so deep—up to my knees—that I didn’t get very far because I was having to blaze a trail in the deep powder. Blazing new trails can be very tiring. We usually go to Maxwell Butte or Potato Hill, so I also wanted to take my friend snowshoeing someplace different. I wasn’t sure, however, if the snow would be deep enough at Big Springs when we arrived. It turned out the snow depth was ideal for snowshoeing.
The weather was perfect: the sun was shining, the blue sky punctuated by a few clouds, the temperature not overly cold, and no wind. The snow conditions were excellent as well. It had snowed the day before, so there was a layer of several inches of new snow on the ground.
We had the trails all to ourselves when we arrived. While some of the trails are established for snowmobiles, there wasn’t a sled to be found or heard. The only sounds were those of the snow compressing under our snowshoes and the snow falling off branches along the trail, landing with a light thump beside us as we strode along the trail.
We hiked down C trail. Our plan was to make a loop back to the parking lot. However, the trail maps posted along the trail are not the most user-friendly because they’re mounted too high to make them easily readable. After going around a gate across the Forest Service road, we soon came to a Y in the trail. A sign directed hikers to the left to go to Big Springs, but there was no information about the trail directly ahead. The trail marker alluded to both trails—to the left and straight ahead—as being trail C. The result was we believed we weren’t as far along the trail as we thought and needed to continue straight ahead.
After hiking a bit farther, my friend and I began to get somewhat suspicious. We felt sure that the trail to the left should have appeared by now. Remembering that I had a copy of the trail map on my phone, I compared the elevation on my GPS with the trail map to get our bearings and discovered we were several hundred feet farther down the trail than we thought.
We were headed for Lava Lake; not that heading for the lake was a bad thing. We just weren’t sure we’d reach it and make it back to the parking lot by 3 p.m. to leave for home before all the New Year’s Eve revelers hit the roads. We made the decision to turn around and head back in the direction we came, deciding to hike to the lake and complete the loop during another visit when we had more time.
We would have been able to complete the loop had the sign at the Y mentioned that Big Springs Loop was to the left instead of just Big Springs. Because the trail map was mounted so high, it was difficult to see Big Springs on the map. The trail maps need to be mounted lower on the signposts. I doubt most years Big Springs gets enough snow that the signs if mounted two feet lower would get buried. The two times I have been to Big Springs, the snow depth hasn’t been enough for many snowshoers to clearly read the signs at the height they’re mounted.
Some of the fault for venturing in the wrong direction lies with me, however. Had I remembered at the start of the trip that I had a copy of the trail map stored on my phone, I wouldn’t have needed to use the posted trail maps.
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