Of course it was great to get out of all of that warm sunny 60 degree weather in Patagonia and get into a good overcast day in the high 30’ some snow. Sure it was. Well the snow was beautiful and high 30s is actually a little warm for snow shoeing, but I endured. Because of yard work, I got a late start and didn’t get to the mountains before 3:00. For the most part, the beautiful clear skies that had been there in the morning were gone.
No one has been up in a while and with the new snow and some off trail exploring, it took me over an hour to get into the valley. Most of the time I was sinking 12 to 14 inches down into the snow. There were only two cars in the parking lot and I didn’t see or hear any one on the trail the entire time that I was up there. Going off trail gave me a lot of untracked snow to play around in. I also found a new way their which was easier on the first half of the trail.
The snow is about 15 feet deep by the time I got up to commonwealth creek and is piled up in fantastic shapes.
The creek has a bridge over it, but it is covered with three feet of snow which has drifted so that the top of the snow is not actually over the top of the logs. I dropped down to the creek and waded across on the rocks. It is only three inched deep.
And of course I love the giant snow balls that form in the tops of the trees. The ones pictured are about five feet in diameter. I need someone to stand beside them to give them a scale for comparison. It would also make a great picture if the snow fell on them covering them up to their belt buckle. But I will not insist on that.
Mainly I just hiked along the stream looking at the great shapes made by the snow.
No comments:
Post a Comment