Blueberry Knoll

 Pam and I had planned to hike the Twin Peaks Trail today. But just before we left to meet, we got an email from the Walkabouts hiking group saying they were hiking that trail tomorrow. Pam was planning to go with them, and I figured I would as well. So we changed our plans and decided to give the Blueberry Knoll Trail a try. I had not been there for at least a month and the last time, it was completely snow-covered. With the recent warmer temperatures, we were not sure what we would find. The lower trail was pretty good. Snow-free but a little muddy in places. But once we reached the halfway point, we started getting into significant snow. At first it wasn't too bad and even without grippers we were able to make our way through it. The higher we got though, the deeper it got. At first we were able to simply step in deep footprints of previous hikers and make our way without sinking in ourselves. But after a while, we started sinking in up to our knees. We were getting very close to the top but Pam's feet were cold and wet. My boots are new and waterproof, and although it was getting to be quite a chore to keep moving, I would have continued. But this trip was supposed to be fun, not an expedition to suffer for. So, close to the high point, we elected to turn around. I think even our dogs were happy with that decision. Dahla kept sinking into the snow and Baby kept falling into the post holes we were making. We put on grippers for the descent because as the day wore on the snow got softer and softer and the mud got slicker and slicker. We kept the spikes on all the way to the car. It was a little disappointing to not reach our goal, but it will always be there and we can try again in a few weeks. At least it was a beautiful sunny calm day.