WINTER SNOW HIKING to RUSTIC Brandenburg Log Cabin Shelter! | Ray Benson Sno-Park 4K Central Oregon

This was a Day-Hike in Central Oregon, Willamette National Forest, Ray Benson Sno Park, snowshoeing (Yaktrax not recommended due to thickness of snow) South Loop by Hayrick Butte and Claypool Butte to Brandenburg Butte and Brandenburg Rustic Log Cabin Shelter, approximately 5.8 miles and 400 FT Elevation Gain. With some other Ray Benson Sno-Park Exploration and hiking Claypool Butte I did more like 7 miles and 500 FT Elevation Gain.

***A WORD OF ADVICE - I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND TAKING THE ALLTRAILS ROUTE OF A LOLLIPOP - once you get to Brandenburg Shelter, I would recommend turning around and backtracking making it an Out and Back snowshoe. That may seem counterintuitive since you are immediately going back uphill over Brandenburg Butte, however that is still less exertion than the next two miles of breaking trail on the Lollipop Loop to connect back to the Stick so to speak. That two miles was the hardest of the whole hike, had to break trail and use GPS to track the way through the forest since the path wasn't at all evident. There also aren't really any good views in that section, mostly just meadows and thick forest, so I would highly recommend skipping that and going back up Brandenburg Butte so you get the Mountain Views again and stay on a more trackable path.***

This was hiked on 1/13/2023, yes Friday the 13th, it had been 5F with wind chill of -5F the week prior, however this was done on the warmest day in a long time, low of 31F around Sunrise when I got there with a high of 43F. It did rain shower sprinkle for hours combined with the winds made this a particularly wet and cold hike given the weather temperature profile going in, and there were NO Mosquitoes.

As far as road conditions, it's highway and well paved roads until the turnoff for Ray Benson Sno-Park, the last couple tenths although on a well defined road were actually pretty slippery and icy, and the giant parking lot was also a sheet of ice. In my opinion, the road DOES NOT require 4-Wheel Drive, however do watch for road conditions, particularly snow/ice depending on the time of year and drive VERY CAUTIOUSLY, and do so at your own risk!

From a snowshoers perspective, I would divide Ray Benson Sno-Park into two long snowshoes:

1) The "South Loop" to Brandenburg Shelter and back. I would do it as an "Out and Back" rather than a Loop as sites like Alltrails recommend. This maximizes views and minimizes breaking trail unnecessarily. This is approximately 5.8 Miles and 400 FT Elevation Gain. One of the main advantages of doing this snowshoe is that its the most packed down traveled trail so it will be by far the easier of the two to do.

2) The "North Loop", going to North Blowout and Island Junction. This is definitely the harder of the two since it is not a commonly traveled trail so expect to have to do route finding and to have to break trail for pretty much the entire hike which is no small feat for that long of a snowshoe, that is EXHAUSTING, so know what you're getting into before you attempt this snowshoe as it is very difficult and challenging.