The opposite of Funless

Saturday Jim and I took what was one of the least funless hikes I've ever had. (Jen/Mike, before you get all booky on me, Jim and I decided it's a word and I opted for the double negative intentionally.)

We drove down to the Bull of the Woods wilderness around the Sawmill Falls area where I like to go fairly often.

We drove to the Henline Mtn trailhead where it had just snowed the night before. The trees were dusting us with their dropping snow as we grabbed a few things out of the car. We laughed a little as bits of snow fell down the other guy's neck.

About a half hour into the hike we got to a viewpoint and decided to stash our snowshoes. We'd carried them to that point, and with the snow only a few inches deep we decided to leave them. Should have known that would be a foreshadowing. Sure enough, 10 minutes later and we were taking turns leading the way. Fortunately there wasn't much of a crust layer of snow. It was mostly powder so the "assumption flex" never came too much into play.

We followed the trail pretty well for quite a while, chatting and enjoying the beautiful scenery. There aren't many things as wonderful as a fir/pine forest freshly painted white with snow. Apparently we enjoyed the scenery too much, as we eventually couldn't decide if we were still on the trail or not. That'll happen when there are 3 feet of snow covering the ground.

We started picking our own route up the mtn. Something happened along the way, and the day became less about getting to the top of Henline mtn and more about two boys playing in the woods. We definitely became just that...a couple 28 year old boys.

We came out of the trees, spotted a ridgeline and decided we should attempt to "purchase" it.
Problem: when you attempt to climb straight up an exposed face of a steep ridge with 5 ft deep snow, and no snowshoes, it can be quite difficult.
Solution: Laugh yourself silly by watching your hiking buddy look foolish trying to gain a couple inches up the hill with each step.

The only effective method we found was to lift your foot as high as possible, so it was lined up in front of your chest. Follow that motion by beginning to place your weight on the uphill foot, and it will sink and slide in the snow until it is 3 to 8 inches higher than the downhill foot. At that point you will likely have enough packed snow to step up and repeat with the other foot.

For about an hour or so we comically pieced our way up various pieces of the ridge. Each time we'd reach a sheer rock wall, the foot lift method would fail (since the face was vertical so the snow couldn't pack down on it), opt for the next runout over, try it again, and get stopped. At one point, I think I mentioned to Jim this was the most futile hike I'd ever been involved in.

Funny thing is at that same moment I realized it was also one of the least funless (as mentioned before). It was in the middle of getting nowehere that we realized we didn't care. We were having too much fun. So we decided to slide back down the ridge, and stop for a quick lunch.

After lunch the fun began again. First we still had plenty of work to do to get off the ridge face we were on. Jim didn't make it any easier when he pushed me backwards and I had to catch myself. Again, since we were in little boy mode, I found the whole thing hilarious and vowed to get him back (his day will come).

We hiked off the ridge face, but not before sinking in to my chest once or twice. When we got back to the trail, we decided it was too soon and too fun to go back, so we went on to the other side of the ridge hoping to find the way up Henline mtn.

Once again we got to a dead end. This time it was a steep rock wall (not vertical) with a couple saplings and again, plenty of snow. We decided to attempt to climb it. We had a little more success, grabbing the saplings and picking our way up. We got to the top of a pile of rock, saw that we were not close to the top of Henline mtn, enjoyed the view, and headed back down.

By the time we reached the car the snow at the trailhead had melted. All in all, the hike was perfectly timed. We didn't reach any of our intended goals and it was perfect.

Already growing.

So our little giant is already getting bigger. At his 2 week checkup he'd already gained almost a pound, and had gained .75 inches (I doubt that, I'm thinking the hospital shortchanged his height measurement). As of last Thurs he was 10 lbs 8 oz, and 22.5 inches long. Both are in the 97th percentile! Ridiculous!!

Sleeping soundly...

Too Cool for school

Best nap ever...