The big cold storms that rolled through Southern California last week did have at least one very cool side benefit: they dumped a couple of feet of fresh, powdery snow up in the mountains. And so I headed up with a small group this weekend to do the Highway 2 Snowshoe, which is a good warm up for what will (hopefully) be a long snowshoe season.
Not much to write here, but there are pictures, naturally. Most are over here on Flicker, but I’ve added a few below.
This is Mt. Williamson from Mt. Islip in June of ’07
Mt. Williamson from Hwy 2 this weekend, covered it’s first couple of feet of snow.
>
Looking out over the Antelope Valley. In the distance are the snow-covered southern ramparts of the Sierra Nevada
After the hike, just because I’ve never done it before, I drove down to the beach. For all that I get jaded sometimes, the fact that one can be at 6,500′ on snowshoes and then standing at the beach after a short drive still amazes me.
Looking out over the Pacific shortly after sunset (the lights are a tanker or freighter offshore)
The other pictures you can see on Flickr, but somehow this is my favorite shot of the day:
A baby pine, half-buried in glistening snow. Something about it’s simplicity appeals to me.
🙂
The GeekHiker 
Baby pine is fabulous in it’s simplicity.
By: just a girl on December 22, 2008
at 1:20 am
The last photo is my favorite as well. I’m looking forward to seeing snowshoe pictures.
By: Dingo on December 22, 2008
at 2:33 am
The baby pine photo is lovely.
By: Wendy on December 22, 2008
at 4:42 am
Simplicity is often more beautiful than complexity. The Baby Pine picture would be my pick for best as well.
By: Homer-Dog on December 22, 2008
at 6:58 am
That last one is my fave too!
By: Ruby on December 22, 2008
at 8:19 am
I love the last photo, and am also looking forward to snowshoing pictures; I have hopes that I wll get to do a day trip into the City of Rocks in February, which will be so much fun!
By: Kori on December 22, 2008
at 10:18 am
Awe it’s like the little Charlie Brown tree all swaddled in snow instead of Linus’s blanket.
I love the sunset picture – I’m impressed you did the mountains/beach trek. I’ve always wanted to do that, too.
By: Mel Heth on December 22, 2008
at 2:19 pm
I can almost hear the little tree…”Got. To. Be. Taller. Growwwwwww!”
By: Ms. H on December 22, 2008
at 6:04 pm
2nd to last photo is my favorite. Thank you for making me NOT miss Southern California for the first time since we moved to Texas. There’s actually no snow here and my first pair of “boots with the fur” are coming in handy!
By: thecoconutdiaries on December 22, 2008
at 7:03 pm
Just A Girl – It was one of those quick “one-offs” that I didn’t realize how good it was ‘til I got home!
Dingo – I hope you enjoyed ‘em over on Flickr!
Wendy – Thanks!
Homer-Dog – Sometimes that’s definitely true.
Ruby – Cool!
Kori – I hope you post pictures!
Mel Heth – I figured I should do the mountains-beach run at least once in my life!
Ms. H – LOL, now I hear it too!
TheCoconutDiaries – On the plus side, the snow is UP there, not DOWN here!
By: geekhiker on December 22, 2008
at 10:30 pm
beach *sigh*
By: blakspring on December 23, 2008
at 7:43 am