Meissner Snow Park Snowshoe excursion

Elevation: 5,350 feet in elevation, with a bit of a gain up to Meissner Shelter.
Rated: Easy to moderate.
Trail distance: 3¼ mile loop.

After a short hiatus from outdoor adventures, Keo and I decided to try a winter activity for a change. Both of us are not really fans of the cold or snow for that matter but we decided its about time we tried something new. So we headed down to our local REI store and picked up some snowshoes and snow pants. We already had trekking poles from our summer hikes and winter boots. We bought our snow park pass and a bagel and headed out into the blizzard. About 20 minutes outside of Bend on Cascade Highway there several snow parks including MT Bachelor ski resort. We decided to try the first park we saw. Meissner Snow Park was created by a Bend Native years ago who used to teach nordic skiing.



We chose to do the full Meissner snow loop. Half-way through there is a shelter that has a wood burning stove to warm up for a few minutes before heading back to the trail head. The trail is 3 1/4 miles long. It took us a couple of hours to do.

Most of the way we followed the trail except for one part. Somehow we missed a bend in the trail and ended up blazing our own trail. The snow was newly fallen powder whiteness, real deep, up to your waist snow if you sink all the way down. It was quite nerve-racking to me because I for one do not believe we could actually live through a night spent in the high cascade mountains in a snow storm, but Keo remained confident and calm. He led us back to the trail eventually. At one point I looked back behind us and we actually had people following our newly created trail. I was like "great now we are leading other people off the trail and to almost certain death". Can you tell I'm not a fan of getting stuck camping in the snow. Anyways we made it back to the trail and continued on.

Eventually after some up hill climbs we made it to the Meissner Shelter... A fabulous site indeed. We had made it! Woohoo! The shelter was good size for being out in the middle of the forest in the mountains. The wood-burning stove was going strong and the shelter was filled by Snowshoers and Nordic skiers. I was pretty impressed by what people had brought with them. One group popped a cork on a wine bottle and brought an entire picnic set up with glasses and everything. Other people were munching on their trail mix. After a short break we headed out into the blizzard again destination: trail head. With the wind and snow whipping our faces we made it back to the trail head and our car. Packed up and headed home. Good first snowshoe trip accomplished! Now homeward bound for some Chili and cornbread.