Monday, November 17, 2008

Sure Sign of Winter


Phelps Creek Trail, 11/16/08, 7 miles, 1000 elevation

Brrrr! We went east today. East of the mountains to the Chiwawa River near Lake Wenatchee. Neither of us had done much hiking here and since it wasn't a brilliant day on the west-side of the mountains, we figured it would be a perfect day to explore over there. Let me tell you though, we hit snow before we even got to the trail-head.

Snowshoes had been left behind since our elevation last week had been higher with no snow - who'd have believed we'd run into snow here? We decided to see how far we could get without snowshoes. I really had hoped we could get all the way to Spider Meadow but no such luck.

It was a pleasant hike and we got as far as Leroy Creek before needing to turn around. We were hiking in six inches of snow and the bridge over the creek had been pulled out. If we crossed in our regular hiking boots we might have a problem keeping my feet warm. Michael thought he might have a problem staying warm too. And we knew Zillah would be shivering all over the place. So we decided to head back to the car after a quick lunch under a large tree dripping melting snow onto our heads.

I had really wanted to see the valley and snow-covered meadows, but there's always next year.


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