Snow Shoeing

I finally made it out snow shoeing with Jason. For one reason or another I haven't been out for a few years, and it was great to get to do it again. It was pretty cold the day we went and I was worried about freezing but about 1/4 mile into our trip I was hot (well, I'm always hot, but this time I was really hot.)

A few years back we hiked up Indian and walked the ridge to Old Tom and down to the freeway, so I thought it would be fun to do it again. Of course the first time we did it, it was summer. We knew it was about a 7 mile trip but I was feeling up for it. Like my wardrobe change?
I think sometimes we forget how beautiful the landscape is around us and we take it for granted. It's not so very difficult to see the grandeur of the land when you are alone with it. Like that pink sky? So pretty. Thank you photo shop**wink wink**

We got up on the final push to the summit and it got nasty. The wind picked up and was blowing ice crystal at about 50 mph. Not to mention it was frickin' freezing. Ok, I try to be all hard core on occasion, but as we were heading up this I swear I heard something growl at us. Quickly I combined that with all the tracks we had been seeing, added the fact that we forgot my pistol, calibrated how quickly I can't run in snow shoes and deduced that hike time was over. I don't play close encounters with wild life. I yelled at Jason who was leading the way that I was done. He just smiled and said ok, and we turned around about 200 vertical feet from the summit. I've never not summited, but I value staying intact as opposed to being torn apart by a wild beast. Maybe that's a tad dramatic, but better to be safe than sorry.

Thanks Jason for listening to me and not making me feel like a big ole wuss for freaking out. Oh and for finding our way back to the car!
The sky was so pretty that day as we watched a storm circle around us. We only saw the sun for a brief moment and Jason captured it. What a lovely picture.

This is a little video of where we were. Jason just missed filming me eat it as I was making my way down the hill. It was a fortunate fall however, because I figured out how to "ski" down the hill on my snow shoes. It was much more fun after that.