NovaLeigh was not thrilled to find out that we were going to be back hiking in the snow this week. JosieLynne, on the other hand, was ready to go! In a twist of irony, my normal hiking day this week was probably the warmest day of 2023 so far. But my schedule forced me to change my hiking day to one where the weatherman warned of blustery and rainy conditions in the low lands and blizzards in the mountains. I knew that none of us were feeling like a rain hike, so up to the mountains we went. We would just embrace the snow and try to forget about the warm weather of yesterday. Luckily roads were well plowed with snow berms along the sides taller than my truck making me feel like we were driving in a snow tunnel for miles to the snow-park. After having done months of snow hiking, followed by the last two consecutive weeks without the white stuff, Josie was beside herself when I opened the doors of my truck at the snow-park.
I think she thought she would never see snow again. Such joy. Such joy. I was only a little bitter to be back in the white stuff in the midst of my own spring fever and desire to get into meadows of wild flowers. So I decided I was only going to bring my running snow shoes and my ice spikes for the day. I left the short skis, climbing snow shoes and ski skates in the truck figuring that I was in no mood to take a fall and break anything or give myself another head injury. I just wanted a mellow little snow shoeing trip through the forest in a blizzard. We needed some peace and quiet and serenity today. Luckily, that is what we found.
The forest service roads were meandering in and around corners and up and down hills through the trees while the snow came down. Sometimes it was a pounding snow as if in a hurry to join the flakes already on the ground. Other times the flakes came down in a wistful, slow descent as if they had all the time in the world to make it to earth. The beauty of the trees today was that while they had lost all their snow in the last few days of warmth, they were not naked. They were wearing dresses made of pale green moss and lichen while they stood with their feet buried in the snow.
Hiking through here made me slow my breathing, my mind and my soul. Everything came back to normal after a long week and I could relax again. I could breathe again. Josie has completely embraced this mentality of relaxing in the wilderness. Yes, my wolf, that is exactly how I feel right now too!
We took the day slow and just stopped to enjoy the snow and the trees. We talked to God. We watched the dark clouds come and go and the snow swirl around us. We listened for the wind in the trees. Today there was a high wind that you could hear coming from miles off and it sounded like an engine. It often stopped us in our tracks to listen to it. As the wind grew closer to us, we would stare up at the tree canopy and see the high tops of the fir trees blowing violently. But the wind rarely came down to ground level, for which I was thankful. It was already in the low 30's as we were hiking and a wind chill like that would be tough. Thankfully I never truly felt cold all day as I was wearing my new favorite ThruDark hoodie again. As incredible as that Phalanx Fleece jacket is, I have found it's Achilles heel, on this, its second voyage. So the black waffled fleece fabric is truly a magnet for wolf fur!! Maybe they can make it in tan or brown next time! Then Josie's long tufts of fur hanging off me won't be so obvious. I think the color should be named Wolf0uflage. It is really hard to live with a wolf and still wear a lot of black I'm just going to say!
After about 5 miles of snow-showing, my right ankle started to flare up with a fair amount of pain. I had already taped it with a bunch of KT tape, but the pain was pushing through. I finally decided that conditions were good enough that I would take the snow shoes off and spike up over my boots. That helped the pain for several more miles, but then I did eventually take even the spikes off and just hiked in my winter snow boots with nothing strapped to them for the final miles of the day. It felt so freeing to be back in boots only! I remembered how much faster I could go with just boots and we picked up the pace....that is until Josie decided that she had not had enough snow-cone time. So we paused for her to lick and chew at the snow and then pray for more days just like this.
Now while we were waiting on the wolf, Nova was shivering in her silver hoodie. She gets cold in this stuff so easily and I think she started to pray for the snow to end and summertime hiking to finally arrive.
Soon baby girl, soon. I have to admit I was daydreaming of all my favorite spring hikes to come. Hikes through lush green forests with waterfalls roaring, hikes through meadows full of every color wild flower you can imagine, warm naps on the ground, open cloudless skies with vast views in every direction, swims in sun warmed mountain lakes......yeah, I love hiking all year long, but spring, summer and fall hiking are surely my favorites. We shook ourselves back to reality with the white stuff surrounding us and the clouds darkening above. Josie was sad when I told her that we should start our hike back to the truck. She is never ready to leave her beloved snow. I think she actually gave the snow a long wistful full body hug.
But then I told the girls they could have some play time and that made the world right again and helped warm little Nova up! You should hear the noise these two make when they play! I always figure it must sound like two bears wrestling to all the wildlife and fellow hikers who might be around.
When we got back to the snow-park and were stripping out of our wet gear for the drive home, I did take my temperature. This is something I have really learned to do in winter hiking. If I am above 95 degrees, I can warm myself as fast as I want in the truck for the ride home. If I am under 95 degrees, I have to take it really slow. Warming my frozen body too quickly once I have dropped a certain amount causing headaches for days. Every time that I have followed this rule, I have no hypothermia headaches. Today's trail departing body core temp was 92.2 degrees. Not my lowest; but it would mean a slow warm up for the drive out. Alas. I do like to crank the heat and now couldn't do it. While I knew I wouldn't get the headaches from my careful slow defrosting, I also was very aware that I would feel cold for days after this. But it was totally worth it! All I have to do is look at these two faces to know that.
As we drove south, we watched a sky show like no other. To the west of the small town of Trout Lake we could actually see blue sky and sunshine. But to the east the sky was as dark as night and huge thunderheads were rolling in. It was all I could do to stay on the road when I wanted to just watch the sky above. Finally as we dropped down into the Columbia River Gorge near Hood River, I could stand it no further and had to pull over. The storm coming up the Gorge and heading right for us was one that surely stirred my soul. The wind was fierce and stole the breath right out of my mouth as I got out of the truck to take this photo. Within minutes of this picture we were besieged by the dark clouds and pounded by cold rain. I ran back with the wind chasing me and jumped in my truck to watch the storm with the girls for the next hour. I won't lie, some of us did spend some time napping while lulled to sleep by the pounding rain on the windshield. These are the days life are made for my friends! Don't you just see God smiling down from above here?
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