Winter is coming and maybe snow? That’s what the forecasters were predicting for the weekend but we were a bit skeptical even though we’ve been getting a lot of rain thanks to El Niño. With that in mind, I picked a tree-covered hike in the Gorge. From the start we were all wearing rain gear to keep the drizzle at bay. There was still a lot of falls colors on the trees and the ground. Mosses were in full bloom and mushrooms everywhere. Within the group I had, I had fast hikers and slower hikers so I stayed somewhere in the middle that quickly became an almost isolated spot. For most of the hike I could only hear the water drop hitting the trees and my own breath. The faster group ahead stopped a couple of times allowing me to catch up and wait for the rest but as the slower gang fell further, I found myself waiting by myself a couple of times. Then the magic happened. As I was going up, I transitioned from rain to snow in a very spectacular way. I had to stop and take pictures of it as it was something I had never experiences before. There was a clear line between no snow and snow. On my side, everything was green and lush, on the other side, a blanket of white. At a turn next to a stream I stopped for a while to wait but also to enjoy the sound of the creek next to me and the falling snow. It was truly a gift. Further up I knew there was a turn so I thought the faster group would be there waiting. Before getting there, I found Val coming my way looking for me. WE walked up to the junction and stopped there to wait for the rest of the group while we drank some hot soup. Once the rest got there, we continued a bit further to the last push where the slower group decided to stop and turn around and the faster group was coming back down. Being less protected, the wind was filtering thru the trees making it a bit colder. With Val we decided to still go up all the way to the top and check the outhouse (which I’d missed the other time I did this hike as I didn’t know where it was). We reached the top and Val pointed the way to the outhouse that is no longer standing. It was kind of those races where you get to the end, touch the line and run back though. We got to the top, turn around, took a picture or two, and headed back down. The hike back was uneventful and peaceful retracing our step to the parking lot. In the description I did say it was going to be a workout, and it was. But we did get a nice reward with the snow. Winter is here
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