We had a huge flurry of activity this weekend. Devon, Cowboy and I went snowshoeing with our friend Jami and her dog Shelby. We packed up the car and headed out to Government Camp about 8 AM on Saturday morning. We started out down the Trillium Lake loop trail shared by snowshoers and cross country skiers. We tramped along in mostly clear conditions for the better part of and hour and a half. The dogs romped around in the snow. They said hi to a lot of other hikers and skiers on the trail. Snow started falling on us about noon. Soon after, all three of us seemed to have problems with our boots and blister formation. We tramped back to the car in about an hour and then proceeded to compare blisters.
Dev went over to Julie's place to play cards with the girls on Saturday night. I ordered a large pizza from Pizza Hut (I know, I know!) to load up on some extra carbs and fat for the next day. A fellow Mazama Jeff Welter offered a place on his exploratory hike up Table Mountain in the Columbia River Gorge.
Unfortunately, I needed snowshoes. REI didn't have any. Three of my snowshoe owning friends weren't available by phone - big surprise at 5 PM on a Saturday. I did manage to catch Sue before she and Nate went out to celebrate a friend's birthday. And she had a pair of snowshoes for me to borrow. She even drove them over to my house for me.
Jeff picked me up on Sunday morning for the drive out to the Gorge. We met Laura at the Hot Springs lodge and headed up the trailhead. Great hike. Awesome conditions. We managed to avoid the normal wind at the summit of Table Mountain. Ten minutes after we left the summit, the wind started to howl. We descended quickly and safely and then drove back into town.
And then I fell into bed early and slept 10 hours.