detour: snow

driving to the snow on distant mountains

In January, northern California tried to recover from four years of drought. A normal amount of snowfall and rain seemed like vast quantities! But February has reverted to warm spring weather, and drier trails, and finally some time for snowshoeing.

lovely, quiet trails

dapper rock with a snow hat

following the trail

I like to snowshoe. But I'm a bit picky. I like it in nice weather. When it's not too cold. Or windy. And I don't have to bundle up like the Michelin Man. And lately we've had plenty of days like that, so riding took a backseat to exploring some new snowshoe trails.

I'm lichen the snow…

pure, snowy meadow

There was so little snow last year that the couple times I went snowshoeing I ended up hiking instead. Fun, but disappointing. Not this time! There was plenty of snow, and few people. The best kind of exploring. At one lake there was deep snow on one side, and sand on the other. Walking around felt surreal.

Ice House Reservoir

sand and snow

wood whorls

mini mountain landscape

best of both worlds: snow on one side, sand on the other

Now we just need more snow, and a lot of if. Less than an inch of rain in February means March better pour buckets…which sucks for horse conditioning, but maybe more snow time…

rock stack along an icy lake