FORECAST vs ACTUAL

When the reality of the day turns out being "not what you hoped for", "so far removed", "not even remotely close", "not what you dreamed of", yet you still laughed, smiled, enjoyed,  exercised, saw pretty sights and unusual sights, I would say, that is knowing how to make the best of what you are dealt and appreciating life and the little things no matter what!

The closer we got to our planned trailhead, the stronger the wind became giving us white-out conditions at times with slippery roads.  Just short of our rendezvous spot, we pulled off to wait for the others, with intentions of discussing aborting the original plan for something some where milder.  The snow squalls along with the sun effect made for a dramatic appearance worthy of a photo.  As I opened the door to retrieve my camera from the back, the wind took hold of the door and I held onto the handle for dear life as the wind was whipping me away.  The driver leaned over and pulled me back in, good thing he's a strong fellow.  That was the tipping point, that definitely we needed out of there!  The others never did arrive, or so we thought and hoped for! A call was placed and off we went.

FORECAST does not = ACTUAL 

One thing that did hold true, our new plan of attack also had a creek crossing right from the get go.  The plastic bag holds my snowshoeing boots and dry socks while crossing in old hiking boots.  The water was frigid and I would not have wanted a wider crossing this time of year.   We changed into our dry boots, left the wet ones in a secure place to put back on for the return creek crossing.

Photo by Adventure Designer!

We followed the Lower Cataract Creek Trail taking turns breaking trail in the deep snow.  There were lots of animal tracks of different kinds but no people tracks and we assumed no one had been here in months.  We wondered what our friends were doing, since we never did meet up, and hoped they found some nice place to explore, like we did!

We picked a turn-around time of 2:30 and where ever we ended up that would be our summit for the day.  We saw unusual sights along the way.  I thought I better snap shots of the little things because we would not be having big mountain views on this day.

Upon our return snowshoe back, we met up with the others.  They tracked us down!  We all had stories to tell.  

If at any point in a day, I have the opportunity to just sit quietly in a place, away from all the cares and stresses of everyday life, then I have found a treasure.  Today's treasure!  In a place like this, I can feel like I am "on top of the world" even if I have only covered 254 meters of elevation!

Isola Peak will always be there and just know that we will be back one day!