While Christmas is usually associated with gifts, food and family, for me and N it also includes skiing, as this is one of our favorite ways to celebrate any holiday. And if we're good, Mother Nature delivers some fresh untracked powder. Apparently we were really good this year, for yesterday we and what appeared to be only about 50 others shared Mt. Bachelor's 3600 acres of powder...as it continued to snow.
A lovely gift, admittedly one my legs weren't totally prepared for. I found myself stopping with increasing frequency as the lactic burn in my legs grew exponentially. We did stop before walking today became an impossibility, with the hopes that we can get up there again this week.
We packed up the dog, ski gear and gifts and headed north for Bend yesterday, and decided to break the normally 8 hour trip into two segments. While the 6-hour drive was anything but soulful and peaceful (what's with the need for primarily male drivers to weave in and out of traffic in a futile attempt to pass everyone, despite seeing nothing but congestion as far as the eye can see?), we were surprised by what we found in Weed, CA. It's nothing more than an interchange for us normally, as we go from the I-5 to Highway 97, but its proximity to Mt. Shasta means that there are enough lemurian lovers and hippies to allow for some authentic, if not crunchy, dining options. Once we discovered the Buddha Belly, we knew that we no longer needed to make Mt. Shasta our overnight stop of choice.
Even if you're not a drum circle fan (as we aren't), you can still enjoy the organic food, including sandwiches, homemade pizza and hearty soups in what appears to be part of Weed's "Old Towne". Heck, it was such a nice change from traditional franchise road fare that we headed back for breakfast before driving northward. Vegan baked goods + strong coffee = soulfully happy me.
So, having avoided home catastrophe earlier this week when both pipes froze and the furnace crapped out (who knew regular maintenance and filter cleaning were necessary?), we've now got another much more minor adventure before us, as we try to figure out who's sending us what from Amazon. It appears that besides us ordering gifts for each other from this site, about 70% of my family did the same. And since we come from sensible stock, people who just don't pay to wrap gifts (that's silly!), everything is, well...unwrapped. So already a few surprises have been spoiled inadvertently, only because nobody's bothered to give us any sort of warning. Actually, that's not true - we did get one email yesterday. Ironically, I've been in email contact with my mother a few times this week, and she mentioned nothing. Oops. Don't worry, Mom, if you're reading this, I didn't see anything.
Nothing like waking up to single digit temps and frozen pipes to make you relish living in California. This cold front that brought a few inches of lovely light snow to Lake Tahoe yesterday also brought with it face-freezing night-time temps. Tonight's supposed to be even colder, which means another night of praying the pipes don't burst.
N and I met up in Mammoth this weekend, since they've had more terrain open than any one resort at the lake. They, too, have limited runs open, which meant by 11.30 am you were required to rely upon reaction time in order to dodge the hordes sharing the groomers. Despite the insanity, it was great fun to let the skis run - and carve in some instances. We also broke out the cross-country skis and explored the roads behind Tamarack Lodge, which was beautifully serene, a nice contrast to the ski resort.
We treated this as a mini-vacation and stayed in nearby June Lake at our favorite local hotel. With dinner at a virtually deserted Double Eagle Resort, it felt like a true escape...making the return to Monday less appealing in more ways than one.
Yes, it's been a long time coming, but life creates its own set of distractions. And they're not always so interesting to share. However, as the holidays approach, I'm seeing a semblance of routine start, so I'm staying optimistic about my ability to keep this updated a tad more regularly.
So I'm trying something out at a new location for the time being. Not sure if this is permanent or not, but visit me there for now.
It's supposed to rain today. It was supposed to rain yesterday as well, but the National Weather forecasters were a tad enthusiastic, as it was clear and crisp, a prototypical autumn day. Today, however, the mood has changed, and while there are low grey clouds outside, nothing's happening.
It's frustrating for me because I shut off the sprinkler system this week, so the few bits of vegetation that were alive in the backyard are not only freezing to death, but are now dying of thirst as well. Ah well.
I didn't realize how depleted I was from the weekend until I went to a spin class at the college and could barely push the pedals. Any normal person would probably think that hiking 20 miles and then mountain biking 25 the next day deserved at least one day off. Not me, however. I will not accept that I'm capable of fatigue. Except for now.
To recap, for the events themselves are more interesting than my whining about them.
The Hike: The dog and I arrived at the Bayview trailhead by Emerald Bay about 7.15 am, and were soon hiking our way, up, up, up 1200 feet into the Desolation Wilderness. It was still dawning light, and cold - the thermometer read 30 F in South Lake Tahoe, and it only cooled off as we climbed. Our destination was Lake Schmidell (pronounced either Shmi-dell or Shmy-dell, depending on who you talk to), about 9 miles in from our starting point.
I had assumed that the cold temps and the end of summer would result in less people. How wrong I was. Within the first hour I had passed 14 people - one group of what looked to be high school students, and a couple of individuals. I felt sorry for the kids, as they all appeared grossly underdressed (cotton t-shirts & shorts). After that, Soleil & I were blissfully alone for the next few hours, until we arrived at Schmidell. We didn't stay long, only because I had an encounter with a guy - probably harmless - that put me on edge. He looked like he'd been out there a long time (longer than the 17 days he told me during his soliloquy), and something about him made the dog act strange. So before I freaked myself out by imagining the worst, we scooted.
There's something infinitely pleasing about passing people hiking into Desolation (with large backpacks on) while you skip out, having already traveled more in one day than they will in 2 days. Smug? Yeah, but realize that part of this smugness is heavily tainted by the utter exhaustion and low-blood sugar I'm experiencing by then.
The Bike Ride: I had agreed to meet up with a friend, V, and a bunch of her friends to do a point-to-point mountain bike ride along the Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT). I'm not one who does the group thing often...or well, and figured it would be good to get out of my comfort zone and ride with some near strangers. Plus, N was out of town, so it wasn't like I had my usual riding buddy.
I was picked up by C and D, married triathletes, about 7 am, and we headed over to the Red Hut on Kingsbury to meet the rest of the group. While I'm not a big breakfast person, I did manage some oatmeal (veritable heresy at a place renowned for its waffle sandwiches and other 'light' fare, but I really didn't want to have to deal with it again later). We then drove up to V's house, set up the bikes and headed up towards the Stagecoach Lodge at Heavenly, where the TRT begins. The goal was to ride to Big Meadow, by Luther Pass.
We spent a long time going up. My altimeter later told me we did 3,450 feet of climbing, and I think it was more. From Stagecoach the trail winds around and up towards Monument Pass. It seems innocuous on the map, but between the soft sand, the near sheer drops in the Mott and Killebrew Canyon areas (which, as a Heavenly passholder, I love seeing in summer...just not necessarily while on my bike), I spent a fair bit of time walking my bike.
From Monument Pass, it's a veritable walk in the park to Star Lake. Yes, there's some sand, but the singletrack is fun and swoopy, there are no severe cliff drops, and the views are sublime. Lake Tahoe? Check. Freel Peak? Check. Wind-gnarled juniper trees? Check. While there were some climbs and some technical bits, it was such a welcome change to be pedaling this section that I didn't mind the fact that my heart rate was somewhere between 500 and a million beats per minute.
Star Lake is one of those hidden treasures that's all the sweeter because of the effort you put in to get there. Whether you're hiking or mountain biking, it's about 9 miles in from the east side (where we came in from), and well longer from the west side (Luther Pass/Big Meadow). We saw a few hikers there, but we hadn't come across any other mountain bikers. The lake sits at 9,100 feet, and is surrounded on three sides (not that a lake necessarily has sides) by fairly steep mountains. The fourth 'side' looks out onto Lake Tahoe.
After a bit of a respite, the group trundled onwards and upwards to Freel Pass, which sits about 9,700 feet give or take a few hundred. At this elevation, anaerobic activity is tough, and the last climb just about killed all of us...except for the perky triathlete, J, who wore no layers and carried little food. He was the one that rode ahead for a few miles and would then double back to see how we were all doing. Kind of like a dog, really. I didn't share this thought with the group, as I was the new chick and didn't want to make enemies this far from civilization.
The top of Freel Pass was idyllic, and not just because I got to eat. From that point on it was all downhill for me. I had made the decision that morning to bail out at Armstrong Pass and ride back home, thus missing out on the last 9 miles (and 800 feet of climbing) of the TRT. It was a fun descent to my turnoff, with little technical rock steps and manageable drops. At the turnoff point, J decided to descend as well, as he, too, had a dog who had been locked up inside since 7 am. He showed me the trail back towards my house, a hidden turnoff that allowed me to ride nearly the whole way back (barring 2 miles) on dirt. Total mileage - 24.5 miles. Total time: 6 hours 49 minutes. Total sleep needed to recover from the weekend: 4 days.
We figured a hike on Saturday was a good call, especially since Friday night temps were slated to be in the upper '20s. Behind Silver Lake there's a trailhead that accesses the Ansel Adams Wilderness, and we ended up doing a spectacular loop around Agnew & Gem lakes that plateaued out at 10,000 feet, with a 360 degree view that included Mono Lake and the Minarets. The leaves aren't changing yet, but the colors were vibrant (blues and greens and greys and even some snow on the Minarets), and we even saw some bluebell-like flowers on the south side of Agnew lake.
But the best part of the weekend for me was the down time. We rarely do the hotel thing, instead preferring to car camp, but staying at the June Lake Villager was a delicious respite. While it's no 4 star hotel, it's clean, quiet, allows dogs, has 100% cotton sheets (versus the crunchy polyester ones so many motels prefer to use), and has cable tv! Topped off with a delicious dinner at the Double Eagle Resort, and I truly felt like I was on vacation.
Tires me out. Especially when the said sun is reflecting on beautiful bowls full of snow.
Don't get me wrong - I lurv spring skiing. It's just that I'm noticing my energy levels plummet in direct relation to the mercury gains as the day goes on. By noon I'm pretty much done, feeling baked in even the lightest of spring gear (which isn't all that light when you factor in socks, kneepads, gloves, a helmet, pants and a top layer).
But that does give me a whole afternoon to run or hike with the dog. While most trails are still muddy (even at lake level), I've found a network near my house that's so dry the trails are verging on dusty. Considering that most other options are mudpits right now, I'm thrilled to be cleaning the silt out of my socks.
