ppine
Forester
It has been awhile since I went on a serious hike solo. We have had light snowpack this year and the mountains are accessible. I drove into the Pine Nuts and hiked up a ridge and then several drainages. There are no trails in the range, so I was careful to make an obvious trail to follow back to the truck. I was in Utah junipers and single-needle pinon pine. The drainages had lots of soft soil so tracking was the main event. Lots of coyotes, bobcat, rabbit and quail tracks. A few older larger ones that might be mountain lion tracks.
It was eerily quiet. No sound from the wind and few birds, just the occasional raven call. You could almost hear the UV rays sizzling thru the blue sky at 7000 feet. I watched my backtrail.
I carried more equipment than usual because of the time of year, with enough clothes and fire starters to spend the night out there at around 20 degrees.
I really missed my dog and started looking for a new border collie.
I can recommend a winter hike as a great antidote for cabin fever and plan to go again next week.
It was eerily quiet. No sound from the wind and few birds, just the occasional raven call. You could almost hear the UV rays sizzling thru the blue sky at 7000 feet. I watched my backtrail.
I carried more equipment than usual because of the time of year, with enough clothes and fire starters to spend the night out there at around 20 degrees.
I really missed my dog and started looking for a new border collie.
I can recommend a winter hike as a great antidote for cabin fever and plan to go again next week.
