We left the house at about 9:15, but didn't make it to the trailhead until about 10:15. We stopped at QFC to pick up some lunch and ran into snow just past the Spur 10 gates.

Uh... snow? Really? Yeah. In spite of all the lousy weather by the time we got to the trailhead itself there was about five or six inches of fluffy snow. It'd be great to say that it just got deeper and better after that, but the reality was that it varied greatly. Where the sun hit the ground it was bare. Some areas were slushy and some had a coat of ice.

We crossed a frozen swamp thing before heading deeper into the woods. Just past a towering cliff the road became a trail and then dropped us beside Sunday Creek. All the rocks on the shore were covered in wacky hoarfrost, which turned to powder as soon as we touched it. Tokul crossed with no problems, but we had to carefully navigate the slippery rocks. The final channel was a bit dicey so Dad threw a couple of rocks in that helped us walk across without too much trouble.

We didn't make it too much farther before Clara decided she really didn't want to continue. We found a spot to eat lunch with at least a touch of sunshine in spite of the huge trees covered with moss. The way back wasn't tons of fun as Clara wasn't happy doing much of anything. She really fought when we got her back into the backpack to cross the creek again and didn't relax until we got back to the swamp.

Off to the north was a small pond or at least a deep part of the creek. We tromped through the soggy brush to get there and stood gazing into the sun. Tokul chased snowballs across the ice while Clara cheered her on. It was just a quick walk back to the truck where Clara quickly fell asleep as we drove through the snow, clearcuts, and hicks with big tires, whiskey bottles, and rifles.

Gotta love the North Fork.