Saturday, November 7, 2009

Fall mountains








Yesterday afternoon, I made what very well be my last trip up the mountain this fall--snow was falling at about 3,000 feet, and many of the places that I would normally drive to are well over 4,000 feet. Can you see the challenge?

It became clear to me on the roal to the Heliotrope trailhead. It's an incredible drive, along the Nooksack River in some places, and through deep woods in other places. It was raining and then 10 feet further along the road it was snowing. As I drove (and climbed) the road, the snow got a bit deeper but it was still warm and it was on a gravel road, so there was no real problem even with my little car. Then, in another 10 feet it went from snow to solid ice. That was interesting, and necessitated a "Y" turn on a single lane road. The graphic evidence or tracks of that turn is one of the photos.

Water is major theme of this post, as it is the fall rainy season. One water fall is one that in the summer is barely a trickle--now it is a true torrent that floods its course and overflows onto the road. The river roars down the mountain, through the trees and even through the clouds in this weather. And despite few colors on the trees, it is always green, in spite of the rain, snow, and dropping temps.

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