Winter Wonderland

Last weekend (the 18th and 19th), we had an Arctic storm come in and dump some rain on us while keeping the temperatures chilly. That means one thing - snow in the mountains! Early Sunday afternoon the sky was clear and the San Gabriel mountains were covered in snow down to about 4000 feet. Unfortunately, I was lame and didn't take a picture of that. What I did do, however, was drive up into the mountains and see the snow up close.

Driving up Angeles Crest Highway, there started to be snow on the ground right around the point where Angeles Forest Highway starts. Shortly thereafter, traffic started to get congested as people were pulling over to the shoulder, what little of it there was, to let their families play in the snow. After the Mt. Wilson turnoff, traffic lightened up, and the farther I went into the mountains, the thinner the crowds got. Eventually I turned off and parked at the Three Points trailhead parking lot, a little way past Newcomb's Ranch.

Two weeks previously, I had gone up to that same point and taken a 3.5-mile hike with my sister Dorothy and her husband. It was pretty neat to see the same area a short time later covered in about six inches of snow. In the snow, I didn't do any serious hiking, but I did go up the Pacific Crest Trail maybe 100 meters or so to enjoy the mountain solitude.

Here's a shot looking southwest from the parking lot.

Here's a shot from about the same spot, two weeks before.

Watch out for snow-covered yuccas!

From the earlier hike, here's a blurry shot of me.

Here's Dorothy and Lance.

Our hike took us north and west maybe a mile and a half along the Pacific Crest Trail, southwest through some lesser trails and a dirt road past an old private camp, and then east back to where we started along the Silver Moccasin Trail. Here's a shot from the PCT, back on February 5.