So the plan all week really was to stay away from snow for this hike. I was going to take us to a lowland hike where we would have no chance of sustaining another fall or a traumatic brain injury. My body has been in shambles for over a week since last week's little adventure. After those 3 falls on the short skis, my back, neck and shoulders have truly been like a bowl of Rice Krispies....all snap, crackle and pop. I have bruises on top of bruises. Black and blue are my new favorite colors. I had a non stop headache for over 4 days and it took a solid week for me to be able to tilt my head back in the shower to rinse shampoo out of my hair without excruciating neck pain. Any normal person would have not gone hiking this week, or at least taken a Tylenol. But neither is an option in my book.
It was really at 7pm the night before my hike that I changed my mind. I realized that the middle of February is barrelling down on us and that means good snow days are going to be harder to come by. We had just had 2 days of fresh snow in the mountains followed by a predicted sunshine filled day. As a winter hiker, you can't really ask for better than that. I also realized that the piece of winter equipment that I told Josie I had in mind was probably not going to be available in the stores much longer. They are surely going to be clearing out all winter gear in preparation for Spring. So after work that night, I ran down to a local sporting goods store. It was a good thing I did, because they only had 2 left. Once I had that item in my arms and was walking back to my truck in the parking lot, I knew my plans were changed. I had to find snow. It was no longer my choice. So the following morning, my truck took us up into the mountains. During the long drive, I felt like the Karate Kid.....all I could debate was "wax on, wax off?" Should I wax this thing or not???
The drive was a tough one on unplowed roads. I was fish-tailing and sliding sideways most of the way up to the snow-park I was heading to. When I finally shifted into 4 wheel drive, I had an easier go of it, but figured I would surely be the only one there. I was completely shocked to find the parking lot packed with only one spot left in front of the outhouse without toilet paper. I took the spot, happy to at least have a place for my truck. Every other truck there was far larger than my Xterra with snowmobile ramps hanging down from their open beds. I grumbled about this being a snowmobile convention as I geared up for the trail. Then I realized how embarrassing this was going to be. I did not have something cool to strap to my back. Today was not going to be a day with a tough looking snowboard strapped to me. It wasn't even going to be a day of short skis or ski-skates. No, today was really ridiculous and I wanted to be alone with no one to see the levels that I was stooping to. You see, I had decided that I was going to give up....I had purchased a small kid's sled to strap to my pack. I figured it was the only way to let the Wolf pull me to her heart's content without sustaining another injury. Now, this wasn't any old sled. This was a child's sled for my child size body. The directions on it said for children 6 and over supervised by an adult only. Well, I sort of qualify for that I thought. Then the directions went on to say, to not use it around trees. I was clearly breaking that rule. The final warning stated that under no circumstances should this sled be towed behind anything. Oh, little do they need to know! The dang thing wasn't even black or something a little inconspicuous. No, it was bright blue and green. I was going to stick out like a sore thumb!
I strapped that pack with sled onto my back and tried to pretend I had something tough looking hanging off it as I hit the trail. Besides, I reasoned that I could just keep my back turned away from anyone I would run into and maybe they wouldn't see it! Oh, how God was talking to me about pride this day! I did argue with Him a bit though. "I am tougher than this you know!" I had to tell Him. But He had promised that I would not sustain a sledding injury today, so I embraced the simplicity of it. I ended up climbing several thousand feet in elevation and 13 miles of snow hiking to prove how tough I was. I just couldn't help myself. But my body was screaming out for mercy most of the day. You know who was having the time of her life though?? Yeah, the Wolf. She started to leap frog in the snow as the powder got deeper.
Each time she would jump up and down, up and down, she would purposely face plant into the powder. I think there might be something wrong with her.
Nova was ever the patient princess as this was happening of course.
As the day grew long, many of the snowmobiles started heading out and passed us. We waved at each one as I turned my back so they couldn't see the sled. I started to count them, curious as to how many were really out here for their convention. The final count was a whopping 24! Josie is still convinced that they are some sort of fast moving and loud animal and wants to chase them. The blessing in disguise from all these machines was how well groomed the trail had become. It made it so much easier to travel through deep snow when the powder was packed down for us. I had chosen to hike up wearing just spikes on my snow boots and not snowshoes, so the freshly groomed trail was really perfect. However, after quite a few miles I found that giant ice balls kept forming onto the spikes under my heels. It was like trying to hike in 2-4 inch high heeled boots and became quite uncomfortable. So I finally took the spikes off, clipping them to a carabiner on my tactical belt, and hiked in just my boots. The sound of chains and spikes dangling from my waist helped make up for the sissy sled on my back and made me smile. As we climbed higher and higher, some dark clouds started to move in from our West.
But we just kept going. I figured that if I was going to be pulled on a sled the whole way out, that I needed to put in the miles now. The big question in my mind was whether NovaLeigh would want to ride in my lap on the sled or run along behind. She was not giving me any indication yet. As we climbed, I surprisingly saw a half buried trail sign off to our left side. I was unaware of any other trails off this forest service road and I memorized the info off the sign. When I got home that night, I searched on my maps and discovered that this is surely a back door trail to one of my favorite places in the world! I am so excited to come back and explore this trail system as soon as the snow melts back and it becomes more accessible! I am imagining that it will be a world full of meadows and wild flowers by July! I cannot leave any trail that I find un-hiked so was thrilled to add it to my hiking list for this year.
Finally we got to a high enough point that I decided that it was soup time for us. After breaking out the thermos and enjoying our first real break of the day, we all started to feel a bit tired. I realized it was 4pm and these were about the first calories I had put in my system all day. The sun had come out and it was almost feeling balmy. Josie and I both laid down in the snow to sun ourselves and make snow angels. Two of the three of us fell asleep right there in the snow. I will let you guess which two.
The snow mobiles were long gone now and our world was silent. The only occasional sounds to be heard was when ice would slide off the remains of trees trunks from an old forest fire. It was an eerie scraping sound to be sure. Reluctantly, we knew we needed to start our way out. It was surely going to be dark for several miles before we reached the truck as it was, but I knew it was going to mostly be downhill the whole way out. So I took the sled off my pack and explained the plan to the girls who listened intently.
When we got to the first big hill, I was excited to sit down on the small piece of plastic. It fit my behind quite well and I just knew this was going to be the best winter tool for Josie's
iditarod dreams yet. "Let's go!" I shouted to them as I pumped my arms on the snow to each side of me to get going and see if I could race the Wolf down the hill. I took off, but then Josie didn't. Her 60 pounds just stood there acting as an anchor to me. "Seriously?" I said to her. She stared at me. "Mush!!" I yelled. Nothing. She stared at me some more. Nova started to pull me because she felt sorry for me I am sure. I slid a short ways with her 35 pounds pulling against my anchor weight behind me. Oh, if only I had waxed this thing I thought!!
Finally I just stood up and carried the sled. "Okay Josie", I said, "let's find another steep descent and try that again. Maybe you just need to get used to my being on ground level". We tried hill after hill, after hill....after hill. I was getting quite the workout just getting up and down off that little sled a hundred times. The best Josie ever gave me was to chase me, and jump on the back of the sled with her front feet so I could drag her. I was so disappointed. "Josie, I don't think you are really made to be a sled dog after all." I told her as we just started to hike out all the long miles we had hiked in. So much for my free ride out I thought.
As the sun was starting to set in earnest, we came to a nice long hill. The girls told me they wanted to just trail run in the snow. Okay, sounds good to me I thought. I strapped my pack tighter against me and we took off running. Our lungs were pumping in the crisp, fresh air. The sound of the snow crushing beneath us filled our ears and we watched the sun get lower and lower in the sky making everything around us glow. This is perfect I thought! Then my left leg suddenly post holed all the way to my knee. You never, ever want to post hole in snow when you have great momentum behind you. That is surely the best way ever to snap a bone. I waited to hear the crack of my left leg as the momentum of my run and the dogs pulling me drug the upper half of my body down onto my chest and face in the snow. My right leg crumpled beneath me. But there was no pop of bone. "Oh, thank you God!! I exclaimed out loud. We were really lucky on that one. God had told me that I wouldn't get hurt on the sled....but I guess I should have questioned more if I would get hurt off the sled. As the girls looked back at me, I told them no more running tonight.
For the remainder of the dark hike out that night, I pondered if there might be one more piece of winter equipment that might be fun for us to try. This is clearly becoming a problem for at least one of us! But I hope soon to be able to give a full assessment of the best way to tie a wolf and dog to you in the snow and have a winter time adventure....just in case you ever need that information someday. Never say never my friends. A year ago, I never would have thought that I would live with a wolf named Josie.
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