On Top of a Snowy World



Wow, did I ever have a fun weekend. I ran 5 mi. a week ago Sunday, strength training Monday, then got increasingly lazy throughout the week. We got another wallop of snow (18″) Wed. thru Thurs. My husband found a great package deal online, at the Darby Field Inn, 2 hours north of here. He booked it. Why go somewhere warm & mild when you can go somewhere that’s even more bitterly inclement than your current locale? HA!

Totally awesome weekend, Oh Wise & Splurging Husband! Here’s a taste of it (click on any photo to see it larger).

We had a sleighride on Friday at dusk. Informative driver with stout, friendly horses (Welsh Cobbs) pulling an antique 1890 sleigh through winding woodland trails & fields. Great mountain views, complete with pink clouds at sunset! My favorite part was when the driver let the horses break into a trot. That heavy sleigh can really move.

We had a really nice dinner afterward. The inn had a trout special to my liking, while the husband had rack of lamb. We both had wine & dessert, then lounged by the huge stone fireplace in the common room, like the lucky, decadent slobs we are, HA! See the old piano in the diningroom? I tinkered on it the next afternoon — when no one was around, of course. Could have brought my songbooks, had I known :-)

Saturday, we snowshoe-climbed for hours… which was good, since I hadn’t run in 5 days. I needed some serious exercise.

I’m at the trailhead, ready to roll. Saw lots of snowshoe hare tracks — proof that snowshoes are required for respectable mobility.

We soon got a glimpse of the peak thru the trees. That white snowcap in the upper right is where we’re headed. The little dark guy in the lower left is the husband, waiting for me to quit taking pics & catch up. After 2 hrs., we started hitting some open-face overlooks like the one below. Ahhh! Only one more hour of 40-degree uphill, & I don’t mean the temperature (it’s barely 30). I’m talking a 40-degree incline. I’m getting tired, just sayin’.

 

Almost eclipsing the joy of summit was a great close-up view of this super cute & curious weasel!

She-weasel, because after watching her watching us for about 10 min., she climbed into a hollow trunk, came out with a small creature & ran off. We thought she scored some lunch (deermouse), but when she came back & pulled out another “lunch” just like the first… um, we figured out she was moving her babies. Observing wildlife = very cool. Disturbing wildlife = not that cool… so we left.

Yeah, girl on top! See me in the top photo? Hung out on peak awhile. No USGS marker that I could tell, but there was drift & ice, so I could have missed it. Despite being the only ones up there, we didn’t stay long. The wind was kicking up & clouds had started rolling in an hour earlier. We needed to get (mostly) down before a predicted afternoon snowstorm hit. We got back to the parking area at 3:30pm, same time as a pack of 5 college kids who had done an unplanned one-way snowshoe hike without spotting cars. Silly punks. (Been there, done that, so I can bust ’em.) We gave 2 guys a lift to their car, saving them a 7 mi. road walk & shaving down the time it took them to “rescue” the rest of their group. They lucked out we came down when we did!

Snow started by 4:30pm (got 6 inches), but it didn’t stop us from going out for Mexican platters at Cafe Noche on the way back to the inn. I’m sorry, don’t get me wrong because fine dining has its place… but after an outdoor day like that, I want a pile of tortillas loaded with beans, rice, melted cheese & all the trimmings, doused in hot sauce :-) Beat the heck out of that chintzy, dry protein bar I ate on summit.

The only bad thing about my weekend was yet another giant boot blister from the hike. Same deal as always, I can’t seem to avoid it on climbs. I took a soaking bath later than night. I love baths, but when my heel hit the mineral salts in the water I let out a roar. Man alive, that smarts. Still, the whole weekend was well worth it!

Tags: cute little weasel, Darby Field Inn, good Mexican food, sleighride, smart husband, snowshoe hiking, South Moat Mtn., summit views, winter getaway