S.B. and I were up at dawn in anticipation of crawling the Jeep the three miles to the trail head with the dogs in tow. It's important to me to be first out on the trail after a snowfall so I can break it with snowshoes. People who break trail with just their feet don't realize that what they're doing is dangerous. They create holes that deepen and solidify in the subsequent freeze/thaw cycles, making it nearly impossible to hike, much less run, along a trail without breaking an ankle. What really pisses me off, are the folks that then take their horses in. Not smart.
But the real reason I like to get out first thing in the morning after a huge snowfall is that the world is a completely different place. It's like being on another planet. All sound is blanket muffled and words stop short at the tip of your tongue. Color is drained and space is reduced to two dimensions. Eyes form ghost images against sheets of white and silvery grey, and sometimes it's even difficult to tell up from down. A Rocky Mountain "high" if ever there was one.
From the house, looking south. There's a mountain there, somewhere.
Icicles on the pool pump house. Won't be swimming for a while . . .
The bar is always open at Snow White's Freakin' Wilderness Sanctuary.
Chilly chiles. And a welcome hit of color.
