winter weather (part two)

 The best day of the long holiday weekend was Christmas: clear blue skies, sunny and in the high 40s.  H wanted to do the river walk - along the Colorado River on the Rte. 128 bike path - which we've done before on Christmases.  Since the weather was so incredibly nice, I suggested that we commence our walk from the house instead to driving to Lions Park.  H rolled his eyes, asked if I knew how long that was going to be, and then that's what we did.  We walked and walked and walked and walked, on the bike path whenever we could, but also right up Main Street, glorying in the fact that we didn't have to dodge the crowds.  The only things open were Denny's, the quickie-marts and a coffee cart.  There was hardly anyone around and once we got to the 2.5 mile out-and-back bike path, we only saw one other couple although there were at least five vehicles (camper trailers, vans and even a tent!) camping at one of the riverside campgrounds.

Blurry picture #2: Milton hopped

up after he saw H walking there

Hike stats:  11.61 miles; 3 hours 15 mins./3.6 m.p.h. moving average (that's fast!); 3:18/3.5 overall (so we didn't stop much); 530 feet elevation gain.

When we got home and cleaned up, it was time for bloody marys!  We feel like we've gotten a pretty good recipe put together now.  And it was time to hunker down with a new book (me), that insane jigsaw puzzle (H) and naps (M).  

Another storm system began to move in on Sunday and it was very windy as the front came through.  Milton and I went to Hidden Valley around 11:00 a.m., just in time for it to start spitting snow and graupel.  I was better prepared this time, having found my poncho in the back of a closet, so we set off for our hike anyway.  There were only two other cars in the parking lot when we started; there were only a different two when we finished.  The snow tapered off by the time we finished the initial climb but the wind persisted.  In a couple of spots I had to stop and clear tumbleweeds from where they were choking the trail; unfortunately, people had walked around the chokepoints and new social trails were getting imbedded.  I did my best to put those tumbleweeds on the social trails to dissuade people from going there but with that wind, I doubted they'd stay put.

We made up to the saddle which was actually in the sunshine, encouraging me to take that foolish poncho off.  Milton, clearly suffering no ill effects from his almost twelve mile town walk the day before, ran and ran and ran - but was stymied by the drifted tumbleweeds.  On the way down, we met three dogs: chunky labs Jake and Elwood; and heeler/mix Fritz, and Fritz's person even gave Milt a gratutious biscuit.

The snow picked up again by the time we got back to the car, so we headed straight home instead of pausing for parking lot beers.  Fear not, however, because Woody's had reopened and after we got Milton tucked into bed, we headed over for a pitcher.  The bar was very sparsely populated that afternoon, allowing Mo the bartender to play a game of backgammon with a local.  Gotta love the off-season.