On this beautiful clear blue-sky day with ample snow cover, ten of us snowshoed in the Deadwood Nordic area off of Indian Memorial Road. After parking and navigating over the berm on FS Road 37, we followed the snow-covered road to the intersection with the Daley Creek Canal. We turned and broke trail following along between the Canal and beautiful evergreen trees.

We crossed the Daley Creek Diversion Dam that allows Beaver Dam Creek to flow under the Canal. There we enjoyed our lunches on an open hillside. We returned the same way, having trekked 3¾ miles RT with an elevation gain of about 150’.

Background: The Daley Creek Canal delivers water to Howard Prairie Lake from where it flows down toward Ashland in the Howard Prairie Canal. The water then bypasses Emigrant Lake (via a siphon) and ends up in the TID canal on the west side of Ashland. It was good to see and listen to the ample waterflow. The Canal infrastructure is part of the Talent Irrigation District. Read about the history of the TID here and see a map of the infrastructure here .

Hike Leader: Elisabeth

Photos By: Elisabeth