First Day of Spring, on Lazy Mountain

 Finally, a good day with good weather to climb Lazy Mountain. I figured the trail conditions would be great since there was a race up and down the trail on Saturday. There was hardly a cloud in the sky this morning, but it was only 18 degrees. I waited a short time, then just decided to head up, assuming it would warm up. The trail was great and hard packed from the racers. But there was an annoying trench down the middle in many places where other hikers had glissaded down yesterday when the snow was soft. It was kind of tricky at times, working my way around that. But it wasn't terribly icy so Baby and I made it to the bench without me tumbling down the mountain. Once there, conditions were much better. The top half of Lazy Mountain is not nearly as steep as the first half. We made our way up easily. We met a couple of speedy runners heading up and down, leaving us in the dust. But I was happy to just saunter up and enjoy the fantastic views. I think it's even more spectacular in winter conditions than in the summer. In some ways it's even easier because micro spikes make traveling easy and stable on the solid snow and ice. In summer, especially if it's muddy, it can be very treacherous needing to grab tree branches to keep from sliding back down on either mud or loose dirt. It was nice and warm for the first half. After that I needed to add my hat and zip up my coat. It got very windy up on the exposed ridges and especially on the top. But it was well worth it for the view. Along the summit ridge, the snow path was really narrow and I had a few reservations about walking along it. But it held and Baby and I did fine. Baby the chihuahua was amazing on this climb. Never once did she act like she needed to be carried. I always really appreciate that. The little dog carrying pack can be very uncomfortable after awhile. But she always likes to climb to the top of things so was great today. We didn't linger long on top due to the wind, just long enough to grab a few photos. The trip down was fast and at times a little scary since my dog thought we were supposed to run down the whole way. She liked to occasionally wrap her leash around trees making my path less than ideal. On the steepest parts I spent a lot of time begging her to slow down. Of course she has no idea what that means, so pleading with her was an exercise in futility. But we made it to the bottom in one piece. I'm so glad we did this. It's always one of my favorite hikes and today was perfect for it.