The snow arrived. That was the first thing I wanted to say. The next thing that follows would probably be what I did with the solid water. How do I tell you. . . I will interject, briefly, that conjuring the thoughts which had occurred on that night is entertaining.
The delicately descending flakes surprised me a couple nights ago, and nothing had accumulated until that point. I was pleased that the snow actually was falling because I had two pairs of snowshoes in my trunk and expected to use them the next day. Still, I did not think that snow would pile up outside my door here in Portland Proper (I might live in the Hillsdale district). I do remember that night I could not keep warm. Consequently, I slept lightly due to the light comforter I had on my bed. Sure enough though, the next morning I rolled over to look out my bedroom window and all the pine boughs bowed under the weight of the freshly arriven snow (I know, I just made that word up).
So BAM! Snow!
That morning I froze my tuckus off getting the car ready to hit the trails. I had on my snowboarding pants, long johns, heavy combat boots, two pairs of socks, mitten liners, mittens, wool hat, two shirts and a sweater on, and I was still cool. Damn, it was cold! Have you ever been snowshoeing? Oh my god it was so worth it. Once the car warmed up the cold air outside was harmless. I rolled the vehicle all the way out to Sandy where we headed up 26 past Zig Zag and past Rhododendron. I rolled the vehicle all the way up to about 4600 feet elevation where I donned the tire-chains. From there up to the trailhead, the travel was slow paced. It occurred to me that I may have not put the chains on correctly, but my paranoia was misplaced - as usual. Once we arrived at the Mirror Lake trailhead, it was time to really get going.
I had three other people with me. My 23 year old girlfriend Maia; our dog, Rielly; and two 19 year old guys, Tim Clark and Kyle Juetes. We geared up and headed upward. The trail is like 3.5 miles to the point dubbed, "Tom, Dick, and Larry." It is mostly coniferous trees and rhododendrons until the higher altitudes where it becomes mostly sparse pine trees. I wish I could identify the trees that are up there. Probably Doug Firs. That is the state tree, after all. So we are still climbing and three things are happening all at once. Well, more than three, but these three in particular: 1.) the air is getting thinner, 2.) the snow's getting deeper, and 3.) travel is becoming more difficult. They are all inter-related, but you'll have to take a Geography class to get into the nitty-gritty of those atmospheric conditions. Watching these things occur is really phenomenal, though, and I highly recommending snowshoeing at high altitudes. This isn't even that high. We are only at probably 6,000 feet right now. Skipping to the summit, the wind was very gusty and the snow was relentless. Whatever view surrounded us was veiled by the interfering conditions. I bet my life-savings that the view is spectacular. I will visit Tom, Dick and Larry again to see it, too.
Well, I am going to cut it now. I wanted to get into my birthday last Wednesday, and I also wanted to touch on my big road trip, but this post has already become too long so I'll be quick.
Maia bought me an iPod nano for my birthday. Totally awesome, but she didn't have to do that.
This is the itinerary for the West Coast road trip:
A.) Dec 18-20, Hiking Mt Shasta and surrounding areas.
B.) Dec 20-22, Visit Kelly, Mike, Matt, Chris, Kevin in San Francisco.
C.) Dec 22-24, Visit Jessica in Santa Cruz.
D.) Dec 24-Jan3, hang in Los Angeles and hike the surrounding area.
Sorry for the lame last few lines. I will be in Redding this weekend so I'll try to post an update from there. Your interest may be peaked about why the title is, "I'm a ringworm expert." So I should tell you. I was fostering some sick kittens a couple weeks ago. They were from the Vancouver Humane Society. Somehow these poor sick boogers attracted ringworm and gave it to me, Maia and Reilly. So I've been researching and battling ringworm for a couple weeks now. I'm a pro. Leave a comment, shoot me an email. I'll give you help if you need it. All I can say, for now, is Selsun Blue.
The delicately descending flakes surprised me a couple nights ago, and nothing had accumulated until that point. I was pleased that the snow actually was falling because I had two pairs of snowshoes in my trunk and expected to use them the next day. Still, I did not think that snow would pile up outside my door here in Portland Proper (I might live in the Hillsdale district). I do remember that night I could not keep warm. Consequently, I slept lightly due to the light comforter I had on my bed. Sure enough though, the next morning I rolled over to look out my bedroom window and all the pine boughs bowed under the weight of the freshly arriven snow (I know, I just made that word up).
So BAM! Snow!
That morning I froze my tuckus off getting the car ready to hit the trails. I had on my snowboarding pants, long johns, heavy combat boots, two pairs of socks, mitten liners, mittens, wool hat, two shirts and a sweater on, and I was still cool. Damn, it was cold! Have you ever been snowshoeing? Oh my god it was so worth it. Once the car warmed up the cold air outside was harmless. I rolled the vehicle all the way out to Sandy where we headed up 26 past Zig Zag and past Rhododendron. I rolled the vehicle all the way up to about 4600 feet elevation where I donned the tire-chains. From there up to the trailhead, the travel was slow paced. It occurred to me that I may have not put the chains on correctly, but my paranoia was misplaced - as usual. Once we arrived at the Mirror Lake trailhead, it was time to really get going.
I had three other people with me. My 23 year old girlfriend Maia; our dog, Rielly; and two 19 year old guys, Tim Clark and Kyle Juetes. We geared up and headed upward. The trail is like 3.5 miles to the point dubbed, "Tom, Dick, and Larry." It is mostly coniferous trees and rhododendrons until the higher altitudes where it becomes mostly sparse pine trees. I wish I could identify the trees that are up there. Probably Doug Firs. That is the state tree, after all. So we are still climbing and three things are happening all at once. Well, more than three, but these three in particular: 1.) the air is getting thinner, 2.) the snow's getting deeper, and 3.) travel is becoming more difficult. They are all inter-related, but you'll have to take a Geography class to get into the nitty-gritty of those atmospheric conditions. Watching these things occur is really phenomenal, though, and I highly recommending snowshoeing at high altitudes. This isn't even that high. We are only at probably 6,000 feet right now. Skipping to the summit, the wind was very gusty and the snow was relentless. Whatever view surrounded us was veiled by the interfering conditions. I bet my life-savings that the view is spectacular. I will visit Tom, Dick and Larry again to see it, too.
Well, I am going to cut it now. I wanted to get into my birthday last Wednesday, and I also wanted to touch on my big road trip, but this post has already become too long so I'll be quick.
Maia bought me an iPod nano for my birthday. Totally awesome, but she didn't have to do that.
This is the itinerary for the West Coast road trip:
A.) Dec 18-20, Hiking Mt Shasta and surrounding areas.
B.) Dec 20-22, Visit Kelly, Mike, Matt, Chris, Kevin in San Francisco.
C.) Dec 22-24, Visit Jessica in Santa Cruz.
D.) Dec 24-Jan3, hang in Los Angeles and hike the surrounding area.
Sorry for the lame last few lines. I will be in Redding this weekend so I'll try to post an update from there. Your interest may be peaked about why the title is, "I'm a ringworm expert." So I should tell you. I was fostering some sick kittens a couple weeks ago. They were from the Vancouver Humane Society. Somehow these poor sick boogers attracted ringworm and gave it to me, Maia and Reilly. So I've been researching and battling ringworm for a couple weeks now. I'm a pro. Leave a comment, shoot me an email. I'll give you help if you need it. All I can say, for now, is Selsun Blue.
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