Early (6:30am) New Year's Eve morning I meet Karl and Sarah at their place, we loaded up in their Subaru, picked up Heather and Anne along the way and headed to Hobble Creek Canyon where Brian and Ben were waiting for us at Johnson's Ranch.
We hiked for about 1.5 miles on the snow-covered road. Then we took a right turn up Day's Canyon. The temperature was already low (~15F), but leaving the road and having to pave our own trail warmed our bodies up, at least while we kept moving.
As soon as we turned off, we came to a stream crossing. Brian packed down the snow on the log, we took some pictures.
 |
| Stream crossing |
As Sarah pointed out our fingers and facial muscles were still working relatively well at this point.
 |
| Taking pics while fingers and facial muscles still working. Sarah, you look so good. I was wondering if being back on a student budget has cut your food budget. You are so lean! |
After crossing the log, that is when the real work/fun began. The snow was amazing, and amazingly deep. Even with snowshoes the leader would still sink into the powder up to their knees, thighs, or sometimes higher.
 |
| Building a trail. |
It didn't take long before we started a pace line. It was exhausting work being the leader. The person in back had a walk in the park, but in the back you got cold after awhile for not working as hard.
 |
| Even though we didn't see the sun, the day was still beautiful. How nice it is to breathe such clean air, hear no traffic, have no one whining or begging for things. Adventures are good for the soul. |
 |
| Taking a break--but not for long. The cold creeps in fast. |
 |
| Sarah cutting trail. |
Our trail looked really cool behind us. The scene was so peaceful.
After about 4 hours we all started to get very cold. There comes a point where the body just isn't warming itself anymore. My Camelback water hose was frozen, I had to bum water off of everyone. And Sarah was smart enough to bring hot tea, but even that got very cold.
 |
| It was so cold that Anne's hair froze. Brr! |
Even though we were that frozen we were still having a great time.
After we came out of Daniel's Canyon and got back to the road, we had 3 miles back down to the cars. We started to run, but I didn't get very far that way. I felt exhausted. At the car Anne had an idea for a cute picture. We were really happy to get back in the car, warm up, and EAT!
I love that we got to have this adventure. Thanks Karl and Sarah for putting it together. I'm so glad I got to hang out with you and all these cool people. This is probably the most epic snowshoe adventure I'll get in this season. It was the perfect way to say Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011!
All I wanted to do when I got home was take a hot bath, eat a huge meal and sleep. But it was New Year's Eve and we had plans. Beth was awesome enough to stay with the kids all day so that I could have this adventure and Scott, Andy, and Dan could hang out and buy stuff to make sushi with later. (Beth, I mean that, SUPER DUPER AWESOME!)
All I wanted to do when I got home was take a hot bath, eat a huge meal and sleep. But it was New Year's Eve and we had plans. Beth was awesome enough to stay with the kids all day so that I could have this adventure and Scott, Andy, and Dan could hang out and buy stuff to make sushi with later. (Beth, I mean that, SUPER DUPER AWESOME!)
I did get my hot shower and some food, but no rest. I had to gear up for a party at Dan and Brandee's. We got two great babysitter's, Megan and Abby, to come over and stay with Eric and Rubie, and Scott and I went to Dan and Brandee's for sushi, games, and great laughs. We had a great time with Dan, Brandee, Andy, Beth, Bob, Adrian, and another couple Emily and oops, can't remember his name. But he had really hairy arms that helped us earn some points in one round of the game.
Happy New Year!
No comments:
Post a Comment