There are many things that I love about living in Souther California and one of them is the diversity of the landscape. We have the mountians, the deserts, the beaches and the central valley. Beautiful!
One of my favorite times of the year is January. Why you ask? If you ask you probably live in the likes of Minnesota, Utah, Idaho, Illinois, or any other winter laden landscape. But here in Southern California, we have amazing skies in January. The rains bring those cumulous clouds with their depth and moodiness. January brings brilliant blue skies and green hillsides, January brings cooler temperatures but nothing a light sweater, scarf and boots won't fix.
January also brings snow in the mountains: beautiful white capped mountains that are only about 25 minutes from where I live. So if I get the urge, if I feel I miss the snow of my youth and want to treat my kids to a bit of the Frosty, i can head up to the mountains to experience it and then come back down the hill to green grass and flowers.
Yesterday our plans to hike the wilderness loop in Claremont were thwarted due to a closure of the park. I believe the heavy rains caused some problems along the trail. So wondering what to do instead we headed up to the local mountain. It was only about 15 min from where we were and so off we went.
We were surprised to see so much snow up on the mountain. The snow was very low. We were probably unprepared as we only had our work out clothes and sweatshirts on. We had just been stretched, and wringed, and limbered in a yoga class. however, we did at least have our trails shoes on. None the less, and probably foolishly, we began to hike up the Ice House Trail.
The trail was icy in some parts but mostly filled with packed snow. It was beautiful, tranquil and so worth cold hands and red noses as we continued up the trail a little over a mile. I love the quiet of the snow--the way the snow blankets the earth and caresses it. It reminds me of sleep.
The river that ran beside us with its icy blue waters added to the beauty. All in all, despite the fact that i was second guessing our decision in the beginning, and my friend Brynna joked that she never wanted to be one of "those" people that had it written in their obituary that they had died during a hike or excursion because they were unprepared... we ventured forth and had a wonderful time. btw these pics were taken by my little cell camera. so glad I had that to record our trip.
