Hiked with Kim.

Started out late at 08:30, doing midnights to mountains. Car showed 27 at the trailhead. Was the only car in the lot when I arrived, Kim showed up shortly after, followed quickly by two couples & a solo man.

Put spikes on at the trail register & wore them the whole morning - well packed trench. Some patches of bare leaves, but mostly good solid snow.

We were both struggling & took our time, chatting & puttering along up the trail, the two couples ahead of us and the solo man somewhere behind us.

Once we started hitting some actual elevation we stopped extremely frequently because the trail was just stunning - thick snow and ice on the tree branches, everything sparkling - & a SEVERE clear sky, so much so that it was nearly periwinkle in color.

We made absolute crap for time, one of the couples coming down as we were still coming up (& the other pair we didn’t see again,) but the summit was just gorgeous. Probably 30° or so, warming sun, zero wind, bright blue skies, snow laden trees, views for miles.

Kim was super stoked that even in my brain dead awake for 20 hours state I had packed an extra Budweiser which I gave to her. We took a million photos of course & chatted with the solo man who had turned up by that time.

The way out was savage fast & our quads were screaming, the higher temperatures and sunshine was turning the trail to mashed potatoes. We passed a LOT of people that were on their way in, the parking lot was completely full when we got there.

We geared down & bade eachother farewell after I declined Kim following me home to make sure I got home safe (so sweet). Nice day out with my favorite winters sports companion.