Well gosh darn it, conditions on New Year's Day were legitimately awful. Sideways rain all the way up to the Pass, avalanche danger through the roof, and a bit of a headache all conspired to keep us inside and breaking tradition of first-day adventures. I'll claim it was part of a resolution to be more chill, but nah. It bugged me.
It wasn't until four days later that we were able to get out. By then, the temperatures had dropped as had some new snow. Avalanche danger was still high so we went waterfall hunting instead of peak bagging.
Waterfalls in winter can be glorious. Sometimes they're covered in ice. Sometimes they're roaring. Usually, they're pretty lonesome. The one we chose to pursue was off the beaten path even though it was only a short distance from the trailhead.
Since there was only a couple of inches of fresh snow we made great time following the old, abandoned trail. Well, it's a "trail" when there's no snow. This time of year it was just a place where the trees weren't that close together. Tinkham ran free.
She was rewarded with treats.
We slowed down when we the snow got deeper and we started descending to the creek. There were no tracks and nobody around. Henry and Tinkham broke trail and we talked our way toward the river. We only stopped chatting when the sound of the river overwhelmed our voices. We sat by the creek and made little snowmen until we got cold and headed back.
The walk back seemed even shorter as it always does. For sure, this was the shortest snowshoe trip of the year. (And yes, it would be the shortest trip even if we measured it against the season going way back into 2019.) Having a relaxed adventure was quite nice. Maybe there's something to being more chill about getting outside. Maybe I'll give it a shot.
