Ash Canyon in the snow

The big winter storm, the biggest this season, is now over. It rolled in Saturday afternoon with rain, cold temperatures, and today the snow and sleet and graupel came back. Many of my friends complained of the cold, but to me this means the mountains have enough water to stave off a wildfire for at least a month.

I took the dogs up this favorite canyon of mine because of the seclusion. Carr and Miller were already crowded with ATVers and young families. Ash is notorious for being more remote and with no designated hiking trails anymore. The most I'd see would be USBP agents (which I did come across) or other lone hikers. I heard ATVers higher up the road and later saw their tire tracks, but didn't come across anyone along the trail.

As I write this the sky is clear, it's 30F and the storm's moving over Texas. Tornadoes are likely in Dixie as this cold front hits the warm front off the Gulf of Mexico.

I took Sam, Sadie and Sieger on today's walk. I kept Old Sara at home since she really can't handle more than a mile at a time, and I wanted to walk longer. I packed up the dogs and my camera and hiked up Lower Ash Creek. We ended up walking a loop up the creek and down the road, walking almost five miles. Sieger had a blast.

Weather went from gentle snow to flurries to wet snow, to high winds and deep cold. We were on the trail three hours exploring, and by the time we got back to the van, my hands were cold! I could barely play with my camera's buttons! The van temperature read 35F but it sure felt colder than that.

The burned trees from last year's fire really stick out in the snow. Small parcels of burned trees that were adjacent to the road have been cut down by the forest service. I'm not sure why that was done, but maybe that was to clear the ground for new seedlings.