It was a clear winter day when we snowshoed up to Jefferson View Shelter from the Upper Three Creek Sno-Park. There are 12 miles of ungroomed nordic trails for non-motorized snow travel in and around the Jefferson View Shelter.

(They neglected to mention that it could have been named "North and Middle Sister View Shelter" but I suppose that's a bit cumbersome.)

Now you see why it's called Jefferson View Shelter. There are mountain views galore from this high altitude open-sided log cabin with its cranky old wood stove (that's Mt. Hood in the hazy distance).

Cranky or not, the wood stove did a fine job of warming us as we polished off our mid-hike snack.

Fellow hikers and snow-shoers are quite a friendly lot, at least in Central Oregon. Sharing a shelter with like-minded adventurers has been a pleasant experience to date.

Our increased exercise has done quite a bit in the way of strength building. :)

Elevation: Sno-Park elevation is 5,200 feet, but we're not sure of the elevation at the Jefferson View Shelter (will post when we find out).

Trail distance: A little over 4 miles round trip.

Level of difficulty for amateur snowshoers: Moderate to difficult; a good work-out climbing uphill on snowshoes.

Latitude: 44.09583

Longitude: 121.62361

Directions: Take Highway 20 to Sisters and turn left on Elm Street (Forest Service Rd 16). About 11 miles from Sisers, turn left into the upper sno-park (the road is usually closed at milepost 11 for the winter). Follow the trail signs to Jefferson View Shelter.

Fees: You can use a Northwest Forest Pass or pay the $5 day use fee.