Playin' in the Snow

Chris, Mark, and I decided to venture up to Pine Mountain today.  Those who follow the news know that we have had a lot (A LOT!) of rain here in Coastal California over the past couple of weeks.  (No major issues at our house except for an invasion of ants, they surely just looking for some dry turf to set up camp -- sorry kids.)   Between storms, snow has been visible on Pine Mountain on and off for the past few days.  A little over an hour's drive away, Pine Mountain is the long ridge behind the Coyote Two Moon (Ojai) Ridge and rises to over 7000 feet, so while the C2M Ridge was only slightly dusted, Pine Mountain received a few inches of the beautiful white stuff. 

It was cold and blustery up there but fun to experience the novelty of "winter-like conditions" so near an otherwise Mediterranean climate.

Mark & I at our turnaround point, about 5 miles and 3000 feet up from the trailhead.

The Santa Monica Mtns., where we spend most of our local trail time, are visible far off in the distance.  Pacific Ocean is off the photo to the right.  Most of the Channel Islands were visible today.

Ours were the only human tracks on this day, but we saw lots of little critters and this set of a BIG critter.  By the freshness of the prints, we didn't miss the bruin by much.

Goofing off on the rocks on the way down, out of the snow. 

Thanks for the great day, Mark, and for the snow acclimatization: we have some cold travel plans in the near future!  :)