Jasper and I closed out the year with a beautiful and busy ski along the Wagon Road from Salt Creek Summit. Despite spending many, many hours skiing around the snow park area, it was a route I was unaware of until Garik mentioned taking it a month or so ago. Like many paths in this country, it did not disappoint.
 |
| Looking towards the Seven Devils, but unable to see them through the clouds. |
 |
| Jasper found his last carcass of the year - a spike bull elk. |
A few inches of fresh snow fell the day before and blanketed the landscape and clung heavily to the needles and boughs of the lodgepole pines. I was delighted to find a cleanly packed ski track veering south from the junction with the Wing Ridge Trail, and quickly overtook an older couple adjusting their layers. Fortunately another group of four had set the track before them. They had turned around near the end of the trail, where it switch-backed down to canal and Big Sheep Creek near the Tenderfoot Trailhead. There, the sun was peeking out from behind the clouds, and I plopped down at their turnaround to enjoy lunch and a new view while Jasper scrumped out a large patch in the snow. The slope was steep and the snow was thin enough that I decided to simply head back the way we came and do the full loop back along the canal road another time.
 |
| Overlooking Big Sheep Creek and the Wallowa Valley Improvement Canal. |
 |
| Returning to Salt Creek Summit. |
It may be the end of the year 2020, but the winter of water year 2021 has just begun! I am immensely grateful for my mobility, my access, my time, and the place I call home.
