[Seeking Advice] Oregon Winter Backpacking – Columbia or Rogue River

According to https://weatherspark.com/#https://weatherspark.com/#!graphs;a=USA/OR/Hood_River!graphs;a=USA/OR/Hood_River

nighttime temperature could be 23 F to 41 F (10th %ile/ 90th %ile) for gorge.  or 26 F to 44 F for Rogue.  Check weather before you leave and you should get better idea.    I wouldn’t bother with fleece.  May as well bring gloves.

Sometimes the gorge can get icy and even closed to traffic in which case I’d do the Rogue.  I’ve done both in the winter and it’s nice because there aren’t too many other people.

Not necessarily rainy.  Again, check weather report – sometimes one or the other will have better weather/less rain.

I prefer hardshell.  But I don’t think I’ve ever tried a softshell :) Goretex or whatever is pretty good at keeping you dry in light rain which is typical.

I hike and backpacking in Oregon all the time.  This time of  year I think its better to err on the side extra layers/protection.

1.Gloves?  Definitely take a pair.  I swear that in rainy/wet temps in the 30’s and 40’s I feel much colder than if it was in the 20’s.  The dampness just chills your to the bone.

2.  Fleece should be fine.  Down would even be fine if you have a waterproof shell.  Again, more layers the better.  Options are key in a place where the weather can be so variable.

3.  In case of serious rain, i would definitely want a hardshell.  Mostly, the rain is light or misty, punctuated with massive downpours depending on the storms coming in.  You might also want to consider rain pants as a precaution.

4.  Im not familiar so much with the Rogue River area… but there are parts of the Columbia gorge that have much different weather.  As a general rule… west of Hood river is MUCH wetter and rainy.  East of Hood river it transitions to desert, and it is much drier, and much colder.   So basically west of Hood River, think rain forest, then a small transitional zone that changes to full on desert by the time you get as far as The Dalles, which is desert.