It wasn’t as cold as I thought it was going to be this morning. Don’t get me wrong, it was still cold enough that I had to wear my puffy gloves, but it wasn’t so cold that I struggled to get out of my quilt. Quite the contrary, actually - I was anxious to get going.
It’s always easier to walk on snow when it’s cold - as soon as the sun has time to soften and melt the white stuff, walking gets more difficult. This is why I was anxious to get going - I wanted to get in as many miles as we could before the snow got soft. We didn’t manage to leave any earlier than usual, though. I think we are just too used to our little routine at this point, but maybe tomorrow will be different. We’ll see. (I’m not going to hold my breath, though.)
Once we started hiking I felt exactly like I did yesterday - I am completely enamored with these mountains! Everywhere I look is, to me at least, an epic view. I’m amazed I got anywhere with how often I stopped to snap a picture. Sometimes, knowing I couldn’t really afford to stop, I didn’t even bother trying to frame anything - I just held up the phone as I walked and took pictures at random. It doesn’t matter - it’s all so beautiful.
(By the way, I’m going to give Theresa the power to fill in pictures where she wants again - there are too many for me to handle!) Editors Note: THE POWER!!!!! Maniacal laughing…..
The morning was quiet and peaceful. The sound of the birds was lovely and the views were beautiful and calming (I feel extraordinarily happy being up so high). I was so calm that when I turned a corner and saw a bear on the trail I didn’t even flinch. He was calm, too, so of course I took a video. However, because he looked a little small, after he ran off I thought I should make sure my presence was known just in case there was a mama bear around. I started to belt out, “Run away, bear” in my deepest, loudest opera voice.
I am not blessed with a good singing voice, so I’m sure that all the wildlife in the vicinity ran for their lives. So much for a quiet, peaceful morning. I was singing so loudly that Nick, who was ahead of me, stopped to see what the hell was going on (i.e. did his wife suddenly lose her mind?).
I will say it felt good to sing without abandon like that. Maybe I’ll get another opportunity in grizzly country (but I seriously hope not).
Nick and I stopped hiking at 10am for second breakfast, which was delightful. We lost the trail quite a bit in the snow and also had to deal with more blowdowns, which are way more annoying at this point than they are fun (although sometimes it can be fun to figure out how to climb over some of them). With the snow and the blowdowns, a break was much needed. The hobbits are on to something - second breakfast is a great idea.
We stopped again, for lunch this time, around 1pm. We both needed to get water and Nick found a great spot by a little lake. It’s unbelievably refreshing to no longer have to get our water from cow ponds! The water up here is pristine and nothing like the literal crap we had to drink back in New Mexico.
our beautiful little lunch spot
As I expected, the afternoon miles were slower than the morning. The snow just got softer and softer and I even post-holed a few times, but nothing too crazy (when walking on top of the snow, sometimes your foot sinks down. At best you just go down a few inches, but sometimes, if the snow is really deep, you can sink much further. If you are lucky you don’t hit anything, but you never know what’s under there- rocks, trees, water… it’s always a mystery.)
Surprisingly, we bumped into a few hikers this afternoon. First I ran into Tesla, who was taking his time because he was doing a lot of filming for his movie (it’s so beautiful out here I’m not surprised. In fact, I wish we had more food with us so we could take more time to enjoy this beautiful section).
After seeing Tesla, I passed the hiker I didn’t know from Nick’s birthday (it turns out her name is Cool Whip) and Old Soul, a hiker we met at the trailhead yesterday. While I was sort-of loving the feeling of being out here with just Nick (it felt like our private snowy wonderland), walking in the soft snow with others turned out to be a lot of fun - it was like we were all kids enjoying a snow day together.
At the end of the day, Tesla, Nick, and I forged our own trail to Blue Lake because we kept losing the actual trail in the snow. Forging our own trail involved a lot of sliding down slopes, which was tedious because I still can’t bring myself to glissade down. Instead, I sort of skied/surfed/slid down on my feet.
When I was a kid enjoying a snow day, I’d come home after spending all day outside feeling cold, exhausted, and exhilarated. That’s exactly how I feel right now. I just finished eating a hot meal and am bundled up in my beloved quilt. My toes are slowly thawing out and I’m feeling quite cozy. I think my shoes are going to freeze tonight but I don’t even care - it was such a fun snow day!
Camp:
Our campsite is awesome - we have a great view of Blue Lake. Thanks to our off-trail fun, we were the first ones here - this means we got first dibs on a site (it does make me feel a little bad for those behind us, though). Old Soul was going to try to squeeze her tent next to ours (which would have been fine with me), but I think my warning about Nick’s terrible snoring scared her off. Haha
Along the Trail:
