5am- woke up...clock said 6am...but I always manage to mess up my alarm clock.
5:05am....freaked out...because I realy thought it was 6am.
5:06am run downstairs...check a clock....still 5am.
5:07am SWEEEEET.
5:15am dressed and in car, ready to go.
5:25am At Dutch Brothers for Coffee....
Really this is where the story begins...I'm pretty worthless without coffee. The stuff happening prior to coffee is me at my worst.
Dutch Brothers is a necessary evil. For some reason the people who work there are way too happy. Maybe they pay them extra to be overly friendly at bizarre hours of the morning.
Normally, I get the "What's up Bro!?!" guy. I've come to live with him...and his bizarre early morning happiness. He was not there this morning, I got his evil twin sister.
"HEEEEEEEEEEEY HOW's it goin'?!"
"Large coffee."
"Cream and sugars' for you?!!"
"no."
"Just black?!!"
(if you can find a way to make coffee with no cream or sugar a different color, you go right ahead...I'll take blue.)
"yup."
"So what brings you out this morning?!?!"
"I'm going to take pictures..."
"Sounds great!!!!"
(OK lady, something is up....what I'm doing doesn't sound great...it SOUNDS stupid. It's DARK outside...and will be for another almost 2 hours. It's COLD...This sounds DUMB. Why not ask a follow up question? "really? pictures in the dark? of what? Are you insane?" That would be a logical next question, not "SOUNDS GREAT!")
She gave me my coffee...it was too hot to enjoy, I drove off.
The snow level is 5000 feet right now, in case you're curious. I hit snow about where I wanted to- 2 miles from the park entrance. IF I had hit snow in shingletown, I'd have feared for my life...and probably not have gone into the park.
When I turned into the park...there was some snow on the ground...at least an inch on the road, and probably 2 inches on the sides...nothing I didn't think my car would handle, so I started to drive...the first thing I noticed....all the tire tracks were going OUT of the park...none were heading in...just mine. The sign said road closed 10 miles ahead.
Yipes.
Quick safety prayer.
Thankfully, the snow never got deeper than about 4 inches...and really, nobody else was in the park anyway... so I drove on the other side of the road.
The road was closed about 1/2 mile before Hat Lake. Barriers across the road, Moveable barriers. I'm not going into details...but just know I parked at Hat Lake, and I was very careful.
I parked and headed for Hat Lake. I wore my Crocs...if you're not familiar with those...they're made of rubber, and full of holes. Not the smartest shoe for snow hiking.
I took off my socks though...dry socks are pretty important to me.
I went to my favorite spot...which is in the lake. That's right IN the lake. I had to break ice to get to it...my tripod was sitting on a 1/2 inch of ice...I was in water up to my ankle.
I've now found a new 10 on my water coldness scale. Words cannot descirbe how cold that water is right now...the only way to describe it, and do justice is with shrieks and moans.
When you're taking multiple exposures, at 20-30 seconds a pop...it SUCKS being in that water. Thankfully, we're still going on 34-years, of mountain lion free living. I don't think I could have fended off a chipmunk at that point.
I was really happy to get back to the car...my feet were numb, and smelled like dead stuff, from being submerged in whatever plant and animal junk was frozen under the ice.
In the car. Heater on. On my way out. The sun hits the mountain, and I had to get out and shoot some more. Had to.
The pictures are nice...but you haven't lived until you've done the robot or the cabbage patch in Crocs, in the middle of the snow, in a National Park. I'm not bragging, but I'm a pretty good dancer. Having nice photos is great and all...but having your own dance party in the middle of the road is really what it's all about.
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