The weather forecast for Saturday, March 10, was cloudy and possible rain. I was disappointed as Friday had been gorgeous, but filled with things to do. But....we awoke on Saturday morning to a clear blue sky and decided....let's go while the going is good! Not knowing how long we would have, we headed up to Dooley Summit with snowshoes in hand, prepared for whatever. Even if the outing ended up short, we were going to get outside for my birthday! The snowshoes stayed in the car. We could have used them, but didn't need them as the road surface was fairly well packed and made for relatively easy hiking. Later on, up on the hillside, we had a few moments of sinking in to our knees, but nothing major!
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| Our destination is the large knoll in the background. |
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| Rick in front of our Truffula Tree |
Our hike took us past Trail Creek road to the area where the road is drifted with snow (and we felt the wind definitely pick up!) We decided to veer off-road and climb to the top of the knoll just east of Dooley. We usually call it Jed's Knoll or Jed's Dooley as he climbed it the first time thinking he was up on Dooley! I mostly find this windswept and fire desolated area fascinating for the wild trees that remain with their dry and white branches. The fire that swept the Dooley Summit area was over a decade ago, yet little has returned to grow. The lower hillsides are covered with the tidy rows of replanted trees, but nothing is growing back too quickly. Near the top is a huge tree with a mass of intertwined branches - I thought it looked like the truffula trees of The Lorax (which then made me think we should go to the movies later today and see the movie! Which we did!) We took a few pictures up on top, but the wind blew hard or the sun made our eyes squint, so they aren't photo album quality! We were back down to the car by noon! A great birthday outing!
See all the pictures HERE!
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| Elkhorn Mts. in distance |
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