Exploring.

Headed up into Willamette National Forest in search of a big dose of Nature Rx. We OD'd on a really strong dose. We saw NO ONE for most of the day we were out. It was beautiful. 

We climbed and climbed on some great gravel forest roads through periods of glorious sun, moody overcast, and only the rarest of sprinkles. Our plans were quite vague, although we did have a coordinate destination in the GPS. We'd passed through some skree slides, downed trees, and patches of snow. 

Alas, we were stopped by a path full of snow at about 3000 ft. It was a thick, wet snow, well into melt. But it covered the road for a hundred yards we could see, up to the next bend. The climb wasn't done, and we both were like, "Nope." The snow was so wet, when you stepped on it, it condensed down into flat solid ice. The route we'd taken had clearly had some maintenance, with trees cut and moved from the path. But here, no one had been through the snow. We weren't about to be the first. We aren't set up for serious snow riding, so we turned around and explored a number of other routes in the area. The dogs had a blast playing in the snow, though! 

We found an amazing spot for our picnic, beside a frothy rushing creek of ice cold snow melt. The dogs loved exploring high and low, but as they always do they stayed nearby without much intervention.