Snow Comes to the King Range

If you were thinking of a nice escape to the Lost Coast for this holiday season, you might think again after this week's snowstorm. Up to eight inches of snow fell in the King Range making travel dangerous by road and trecherous by trail. Though I haven't climbed to the top, I would guess there is more than a foot of snow on King Peak. The paved roads are slick with ice and the dirt roads are blanketed in snow.
The snow level was 500' all this past weekend and is forecast at 1000' for the next storm, predicted for tomorrow. The Lost Coast itself--the beach--is, of course, snow free.

"Why then," you may ask, "shouldn't I hike the Lost Coast Trail this week?" If you were considering coming up at all, I'm sure you already realize that it's cold and expected to rain. What you may not have considered is what that rain is going to do to the thousands of tons of snow sitting on the mountainsides this weekend.

On the coast, this weekend, I forecast partly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers on Saturday with a chance of mudslides near steeper slopes. Expect creeks to be swollen and impassable with snowmelt. Expect more of the same on Sunday, but with more rain. One thing that will be less of an issue this weekend is surf--the ocean is forecast to be nearly calm on Saturday, between the storms.

That's the score from the California Coast's winter wonderland.