Camas Meadows

Blog for Camas Meadows Lodge™. Located on Camas Meadows Natural Area Preserve outside of Leavenworth, Washington. http://www.camasmeadowslodge.com All materials and photos copyrighted 2006-2017©

Tuesday, February 25, 2014


Snow, snow, and more snow.....

It started snowing on Washington's Birthday and just refused to quit.  From no snow on the meadow we are currently at THREE feet of snow!  The snow plows have been busy and the meadow is now ready for skiing.

It is, however, March 1st this Saturday.  Winter finally came and caught up to typical winter snow depths. The unfortunate part is that skiing season will be very short this year.   The latest we have skied on the meadow was the first week in April.


Once the snow stops falling Camas is favored with blue skies and warm daytime temperatures.  The sunny skies make sunglasses mandatory.  As soon as night time temperatures stay above freezing the snowmelt starts in earnest.  This makes for perfect skiing on corn snow conditions.  One kick of the skies and a long, long glide is the result.  But these perfect skiing conditions do not last long.  Soon the snow is gone and the Glacier Lily's and Spring Beauties make their appearance.  Usually, we look forward to these wildflowers, but this year having a little longer ski season is preferred.

This is the view from the deck and all that snow.  We are booking for May and June wildflowers.  Plenty of open dates for March skiing!!  Don't miss the snow.




Monday, February 03, 2014

First Snow Plowing of the Season!!


UPDATE:  Feb 19, 2014.....We have been plowing the road every other day!  The forecast for next week is sunny skies.  It looks like the time for a winter visit in the sunshine to Camas Meadows starts next week.

We are definitely in a sunny, springtime pattern.  This is the best time to visit Camas for skiing and other winter activities.  Come soon....it will be wildflower season before you know it.

hFirst Snow Plowing of the Season!!

This has been the most unusual year for snow at Camas.  The earliest we have had a significant snowfall is the first of October.  The latest for a significant snowfall was January 29th, 2014!!  Eight inches of snow finally fell and stuck!  The drought is California has sneaked up the east slope of the Cascades this year.

This will make for a short x-country skiing season at Camas Meadows.  This snowfall did put enough snow down on the trails around the meadow for skiing.  The meadow itself has snow, but the meadow grasses are still sticking up through the snow.  Hopefully, the next snowfall predicted for this weekend will cover the remaining grasses.




Here is the view from the deck.  Plenty of snow for snowball fights and snowmen.  Just not the field of white normally seen at Camas.  The predicted snow this weekend and the following week should add to the snow pack.  However,  this view of years past might be difficult to get to this year.


The other surprise this year is the elk herd.  The latest the herd has stayed on the meadow is around the first two weeks in December.  This week I heard what I thought was an elk bugle close to nightfall.  The following night the bull elk made his way into the meadow just to make sure that I was not hearing things.  It seems we did not head south for the winter and the elk herd is taking its time heading for its winter digs on the Columbia River.  So it must be the deep snows that finally get the elk to head for lower elevations.


The following day as we were leaving Camas we spotted the entire herd of thirteen animals next to the road. They made for a beautiful picture, but the camera was buried in the back of the Pilot and with the cold weather I decided to just drive past the herd without disturbing them.

There is more to view than the elk in winter at Camas.  This was the sunset above Three Brothers Peak.  I took the mountain out of the picture and it makes for a rather interesting "painting".  Painters steal from photographers all the time so I suppose this "painting" is fair game!



We are booked Feb 7th and 8th.  As well, from Feb 12th through the 20th.  Usually, March is a great time for skiing on corn snow.  This year, it looks like skiing season might end in the middle of March.

Wildflower season usually starts in early April.  Peak wildflowers are usually in May, but the last few wet springs have moved it into early June.  The first weekend in May is booked.  We are also booked for Memorial Day week from May 21st through May 28th.

The winter snows have been meager this year, but the wildflowers never disappoint at Camas Meadows.