Happy New Year

My father and I started day one of the new decade by snowshoeing with some of my co-workers. The destination was Hour Pond in the Siamese Wilderness in North Creek. However, after finding that the RT would be 8.6 miles and getting an 11am start we all agreed that we would skip seeing the pond and the new lean-to if necessary to get back to the cars before dark. We made it to the junction that would have taken us the .8 miles to the pond at about 1:30. Hunger had set in and we decided that we preferred to spend more time building a fire and eating a leisurely lunch. We ate deviled eggs, cheese and pepperoni, crackers and hummus and hot dogs. We toasted the New Year Snowshoe with whatever wine or beer we were individually willing to carry for ourselves and the rule was that you still had to be able to carry yourself out of the woods! Luckily the shortcut loop back to the car was mainly downhill and gave us a quick peek at Gore Mountain off in the distance..... but we had to cross a frozen Thirteenth Lake. I found that part to be a little creepy, especially since someone questioned if it had been cold enough yet and was the ice going to be thick enough. A 6.1 mile first snowshoe of the season is nothing to sneeze at. My legs are sore and I am extremely tired. I would already be sleeping but I was eager to get back to blogging after 2 months without a computer and happy to have a trip report to share with whatever readers haven't given up on A WALK IN THE PARK.....

Wishing you a happy new year of hiking!