[pct-l] My Hike Today

[CMountainDave@xxxxxxx (CMountainDave@xxxxxxx)]

I went up today to see for myself what the snow conditions were in the
Olympics and hiked up Mt. Ellinoir. There's about 4' of snow missing at all
elevations That means the access roads (usually used for cross country skiing
this time of year) are snow free to 3000' and only patchy above that.
  Conditions were icy where post holing would be the norm
  Wore crampons on the way down, and although they weren't essential, they
made for a stress free descent, not having to worry in the least about step
placement or slippage
  As usual the snow line was quite abrupt going from nothing at all in the
forest to 4' within 200 yards of trail from about 4000' to 4200 ft. level.
This is about 1500' higher than normal.
  Had trio of gray jays demand a treat so I gave them my doritoe crumbs. Now
don't tell Tom I made 3 birds go bad
  And yeah, Joanne I can relate to cross country travel via compass and topo.
Intense focus and thought control are the lessons I learned. No room for fear
at all