Part One, Friday
They say it’s the most wonderful time of the year, and for you, my steadfast readers, it is because you get a double trip report from me in your stockings, and for me, it is because we have officially passed the Winter Solstice, and the days are now getting longer.
Our celebration began on Friday, a day we both naturally had off and one on which the weather was foretold to be clear. We are a frugal pair, who likes to combine activities to minimize drive time and maximize fun, so we chose a hike that would be en route to a holiday visit with TBG’s aunt up north. We began with breakfast at a local diner there, a place TBG’s late uncle frequented and where our waitress remembered him fondly. Then we had a nice still-morning visit with said aunt before she headed out to her lunch date and we to our trail.
 |
| “Whee to our trail!” says TBGuide. |
Little Mountain Park, in Mount Vernon, offers 10 miles of trails, and it’s FREE. Just in case, we had every park pass we owned with us. The predicted clearing hadn’t happened yet, and we weren’t so sure it would. By now, you are familiar with the common PNW refrain, “At least it wasn’t raining!”
 |
| The Up Quick Trail |
The “up” part I can vouch for. I’m not so sure about the “quick.” It was quite the little chuffer.
I left a little “breadcrumb” along the Ridge Trail. [#Festones] The trail map indicated we’d be coming upon a viewpoint, and when we reached a wide flat rock where there was a clearing that, had there been clearing, would have afforded a view. But, continuing on, we found a much nicer place from which to view that which wasn’t viewable.
 |
| Viewpoint? |
TBG was going to try to get some photos of the far-away sun breaks from this vantage point, but the other guy you see in this photo was enjoying his thermos of coffee and pack of Pall Malls under the shelter, sort of ensuring he got the place to himself. No matter, an even cooler overlook awaited us.
The viewpoints have their own parking lot access, and we encountered several other park explorers here.
We all took turns taking photos for one another.
 |
| Our turn. |
After this, it was mostly all downhill.
 |
| We’ve been waiting for you. |
The way down seemed as gray as the way up, until I turned around at one point and realized the whole top of Little Mountain was bathed in sunlight. The light finally caught up to us as we neared the end of our hike, making me wish we’d had more time for a longer hike, only racking up about three miles (but 1,000’ of gain at the front end.) No matter, we had more outdoorsy plans for the long holiday weekend.
Part 2, Sunday 12/24
Even though as I write this, it is snowing here at home, there is rarely enough “low” snow for skiing or shoeing, and we have to go where the snow is. The current weather system was kind enough to hold off until this afternoon, allowing us the chance to get out and back before it blew in. We had to stop to get our annual Sno Park Permit — yes, your eyes are not deceiving you, another park pass! We got our money’s worth, though, because this lot was actually plowed and the Honeybucket was freshly serviced. Score!
 |
| Sno Park parking only! |
We have not been snowshoeing in a few years and mine are new-to-me shoes, which required more stops and readjustments than anyone would have liked. But if you want to mess up your knees, you’ll keep walking with your feet crooked, and while your immediate excursion might go more smoothly, you’ll run the risk of ruining the whole rest of your outdoorsy life by blowing out your knees, and although frequent stops and starts to get things just right might be annoying for everyone, they are way less annoying than never being able to go out again because you wrecked your knees and are left wondering why you didn’t just stop and adjust your snowshoes when you had the chance.
 |
| Do I look annoying? |
The snow wasn’t very deep, but there was plenty for the snowshoes to kick up, powdering the backs of our legs. We had the whole trail to ourselves. After our period of adjustments, it was very peaceful. The trail was relatively flat, just enough rise to keep us warm but not overly so. We heard some grouse flush, but didn’t see them.
We saw more than one small, dead spiders, though. Since they were on top of the snow, it wasn’t the snow that smothered them, and since I doubt they died while strolling across the snow, that means they had fallen from the trees overhead. They probably fell when they died rather than died because they fell, but either way, it’s spiders falling from trees.
We didn’t want to overdo it on our first trip to the snow, and we made ourselves turn around after an hour even though the snow was just getting better.
 |
| Running man. |
TBG handed me his camera so that I could take some burst photos of him running in his snowshoes. I’m not sure why, but just look at him go! The sun tried to break through, but never could quite make it. What was that I said earlier about the days getting longer? Longer, but not less gloomy for a while yet. We’ll be having a rare white Christmas here, which is good, not because I love snow (I actually don’t really care for it) but because it gives us all the excuse we need to stay in, stay warm, and do a whole lotta nothin’. I hope your holiday is just as perfect.