snow!

we drove up 8th street to where the gate is closed for a walk in the snow. the gate is now up past the parking lot, which makes it easier to park- it used to get quite busy at the gate, and hard to turn around, etc. the problem with this is that the lot is up a pretty steep hill...

here's how it looked when we got out of the car
we headed up the road and couldn't quite make out what this was in the road.

it was the remains of a fire- still smoking, with glowing coals. we kicked snow over it to be sure it was out, confused about why anyone would be camping up here in the snow & building a fire in the road.

that question was answered around the next turn. not good.

by the time we came back, the car had been pulled out of the ditch.

the usual beautiful muted winter colors- willow, grass, sage-

happy goofy halle b capering through the snow....

the snow was about 6 inches deep when we started (i mentioned gaiters at home and steve said oh, we won't need those- well, they would have come in handy!)

here you can see how deep the snow was higher up. echo is a good trail breaker! :)

what a great way to start the day! there were quite a few people out lower down, too- the snow not keeping too many people inside!

happy holidays!