wed the 23

what a beautiful day! lunchish walk and things were still pretty frozen, tho starting to soften. this is red fox, which is sandy enough to be on most of the time. it does get clumped up if people are on it when it's soft & it refreezes, but the sand does break down & regain shape . mud, on the other hand, stays rutted up for a long time.

problems occurring on sandy trails: users avoid ice/puddles by going off trail, thereby widening it. this is a road, but it doesn't need to be a wider road.

here's how things looked heading up chickadee. mostly frozen, softening on the edges & south/west slopes. still firm enough on top, but if temps warm will need to stay off.

it was gorgeous- bright blue skies, still snow on the ground...... 3 peeps/groups with dogs. we were the only ones observing the on leash area, tho one couple did leash up when they saw us heading down the trail. saw moab off leash in the on leash area, no effort to leash up. he doesn't bother us, so that's no biggy other than it seems that folks are disregarding rules again.

happy holidays, merry christmas, happy trails. please check trail conditions before heading out- reports available at www.ridgetorivers.org , www.swimba.org or by clicking the badge on the left of this blog.