Winter’s Last Stand

If I look outside it’s hard to believe that the summer season will be in full sway in two short weeks.  Right now it looks like February.

If you live here, you’re used to this.  Spring is a mixed bag with sunny, dry weeks where everyone pulls out their favorite shorts, tee-shirts and sandals.  Those in the “know” know not to put away the snowshoes, long underwear and down jackets.

We’ve had plenty of moisture over the last two weeks which finally turned to snow a couple of days ago.  And what was suppose to be a hiking guided day trip last Friday turned out to be one of the snowiest snowshoe outings of the year.

Have to admit, I wasn’t excited.  While the store was still busy selling and renting snowshoes, I HAD put my snowshoes away.

My clients were three women from Malaysia- three eye doctors.  We had connected several times via email as I wanted to be sure they were ready for the snow and had the right clothing.  They didn’t have a car so I made plans to pick them up.

I was greeted at the door and warmly invited inside.  I immediately noticed that the heat was turned way up.  I also noticed several pairs of shoes on the floor. One looked like a passable pair of light hikers, another a pair of pink tennies.  I shed a few layers and went upstairs to the living area.

I could tell they were very excited which always makes it more fun for me.  We immediately began to go over their clothing.  I asked about boots.  They assured me they had boots.  I then made a joke, “Of course, you’re not talking about those pink ones downstairs.”  As my comical words drifted across the room I detected a slight pause in the conversation.

Ah…right.

The pink tennies set the tone for the day which was really fun.  They did some shopping at the Warming House, then we finished them off with Neos overboots, gloves, rain pants and whatever else we could scrounge up from the gear bin.  Off we went.

When we arrived at Bear Lake is was snowing so hard you could barely see.  The day was a mixture of snow, sun and moving clouds.  It looked cold, but it wasn’t.  The lakes sat quietly in the fog while the outlets rushed with melting water.  Although there was heavy snow, winter had lost it’s grip.  Summer was coming.

I loved it when Liza put her face to the sky and exclaimed, “It’s like the stars are falling on your face.”  The girls were troopers in the snow, took at least 3,000 pictures and another 500 Go Pro videos, slid and even scaled a few rocky sections where the snow was gone.  Hopefully they made memories to last a life time.

I don’t think I’m jaded when it comes to appreciating the beauty of where I live.  But all of us tire of the snow at some point in the spring and long for green grass and bare rock.  We want to wear some different clothes and fewer of them.  We want to go outside without a hat and gloves.

All this is true.  But what a lovely way to end the season- with stars falling on our face.

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