I slept late. I’d planned to sleep in a bit, because it was going to be too cold to go on an early morning hike. But then last night, I couldn’t fall asleep. I may have drank a bit too much water right before bed. It might have been the decaf Americano (decaf still have some caffeine, and sometimes baristas forget to use the decaf). At any rate, I didn’t fall asleep until much later than I wanted to. I ended up taking some sleep aids, and it muddled my recall of my dreams, as it usually does.
When I got up, I got ready to go hiking. First order of business, start up some hearty oatmeal. Then get dressed. Then eat the oatmeal. Make some tea. Remember to put sunscreen in the pack! I got out the door just before 10 am and listened to Charmed Life as I drove out to the trailhead.
I had to stop after the Brownlee Campground, because a drilling machine was trundling down the road on treads, directed by a man holding a joystick walking behind it. A truck followed close behind. Luckily, I was in a place where I could easily pull off the road and wait for them to pass. At the trailhead, there was someone camped, and a truck parked. I pulled in next to the truck and got out.
It was drizzling, so I swapped out from wearing my down jacket to wearing my rain poncho. I skipped the warm-up because it was so cold. I just wanted to get moving.
The drizzle continued as I hiked up. Less than a mile up, I was startled by the roar of a motor. A bike appeared ahead of me heading downhill. I stepped off the trail. The guy riding it stopped to chat with me for a bit. He’d been almost to the top, but was stopped by the snowfields below the peak. I told him I only planned to go out about 2 miles, and he said I was smarter than him.
It started to snow as I continued to go up. First little slushy flakes, and then big fat fluffy ones. Nothing that was really sticking, but as I hiked and could see the other side of the valley, it was clear that it was sticking higher up. And I was heading up!
My app announced that I’d reached two miles well before when I expected it to, based on my last few hikes. Looking back, I think that was a sign from Ambrose. A reminder that I was not going to go to the peak. Which I knew. I kept on hiking up past the two mile. I wanted to finish my 50 minute interval before turning around. But then I saw I was among the trees with snow-coated branches. I stopped to take a picture of a particularly beautiful large snag with frosted branches. As I walked up to it on the trail, snow started falling hard. Not the fluffy flakes or the slush, but hard little pellets, stinging against my face as the wind blew it against my cheeks. I was in the clouds, and the weather was not going to improve if I kept going.
I turned back at the snag, and the snow pretty much stopped once I was headed downhill. It was the right time to head back. The trail was very muddy, which made going down an exercise in concentration. My boots handled it perfectly. The weather continued to improve as I went down. The only downside to it no longer raining or snowing was that the wind was colder, but I was dressed for it. I left the poncho on all the way down.
By the time I got back to the car, the sun was out. I’m glad I went out in the harsh weather. I’ve backpacked through worse with Ambrose, and it’s good to get training in inclement weather when I can. My body was still pretty cold, so I turned up the heat and drank my still-hot tea along with my coconut water.
Back home, I warmed up with a shower and some food. And I spent the rest of the day not doing too much. A lot of journaling. Laundry. I’m not sure what I’m going to do for dinner tomorrow. I put aside some food for next weekend’s camping trip. I’ll have to do a bit more packing this week. I still need to do my exercises today. I think I’ll just do some breathing after I post this.
I’m planning to do some hoeing tomorrow morning to make my next section of mowing easier. My left calf has been aching. I’ve been rubbing it and trying to stretch it, but it keeps being achy. I won’t be climbing Cuddy next weekend because I’ll be car camping. I might hike a bit, depending on where I end up and what the area is like, but I’ll be mostly taking it easy and just acclimating by spending some nights over 5000 feet elevation. As is tradition.
I’ve been having some emotional outbursts. And I’m letting them out. Letting myself miss him. I wonder if he would have turned us around sooner. I think he would have turned us back at the junction; that’s where we usually turned back. I’m glad he gave me the tools I needed to get through this hike safely. I honor his memory when I hike.
