Snow Hiking = Life

So you may have noticed that we Blanchards like to hike?  Well, we do.  And the fun thing about this winter is that we've finally been able to keep the hiking love going strong even in the snow.  This is new.  Before kids, and even when they were babes in the pack, we liked to snowshoe in the winter . . . occasionally.  But this winter we've been on the trail multiple times, with the kids hiking under their own power.  It's been awesome!  We've purposely picked a close, familiar trail, that's highly trafficked and always packed down.  And the camelbaks loaded with snacks and water have been a big hit, too (except that time they froze in the uber cold).  It's been game changing!  We were even talking this week about how we don't feel the need to get away to warmer climes like we have in the past few years once mid-January hits.  (But we might just do it anyway just for traditions sake - stay tuned on what we decide on that front. ;)

This morning we had nothing on our calendar and the day was shaping up to be one of the beautiful bluebird kind, so the kids and I set out to hike at North Arm again.  They were excited to get out with all their goodies in their packs, as they have been for every hike post-Christmas (such a great side effect of the gifts - very little convincing needed to get them out on the trail).  But today, Callie also sat down to draw a few trail maps for us, in case we got lost.  She came up with these from memory of the three options of routes from the trailhead.  I was so impressed at her details!  ("My head is just full of ideas!" she told Gregg later.) (And I of course loved her spelling skills.)

The top map is for the trail that doesn't really
have a name that leads to the lake.  Those brown
lollypop-lookin' things are all the teasel we encounter
along that path.  The orange map is the Nature Trail
that we attempted today, but found it impassible due
to downed trees and deep snow.

So we ended up hiking on the "overlook trail"
which we've never called it that until today, but it
is aptly named since we hike to the overlook bench,
a perfect destination for little hikers.

Glorious sun!  It felt SO good!

This is looking down that teasel trail, though the teasel load is
much lower than usual in all this snow.

We still get excited to tromp on that new bridge!

Nature trail attempt.

Sunny selfie!

Back on the "overlook trail".

Going up.

I love when we come around a bend and get our first glimpse
of the lake.

Made it to the overlook bench - which is much shorter than
it is in the summer months.

Super hard to see in this pic, but down in that flat white expanse
is where we hiked a few weeks ago when Gregg made all the
designs in the snow.  We could still see our tracks perfectly!

Wish you were here!

The snowman we met on that hike three weeks
ago was still standing down there, too.
(You might just have to trust me since it's so hard
to see in the pic.)

Bluebird beauty!

I just can't get enough of these red-stemmed bushes in the
snow with blue sky.  Oh, and those smiling kiddos.