February

Finally, January has come to a close!  I'm sure we all saw the meme...

We spent the first days of February up in Banff, chasing a snowstorm that brought a load of new snow to both Banff Sunshine Village Ski Resort and Lake Louise Ski Resort, both of which are within easy reach of the town of Banff.  We lucked out and had a Friday pow day at Sunshine Village, and despite poor visibility, we managed to find some great tree runs and leftovers on the periphery of some popular runs.  It is so crazy to hear people complain about powder making skiing more difficult.  I literally won't roll out of bed for anything less than 6" of new snow, haha.  There are a couple of reasons I have become more discriminating with my snow tastes.  One, powder is more fun.  Two, it doesn't hurt my right knee.  I tore my ACL, medial and lateral menisci when I was 17 years old (and then my left when I was 30 for good measure), and it has given me trouble ever since, worsening of course as I have aged and put it through more abuse. The amount of compression and impact it can take is definitely limited, so I have adapted by becoming a powder snob!  One reason fly fishing has been such a blessing is that when there isn't fresh snow, there's probably somewhere to go fishing that harbors good conditions.

While in Banff, we were able to check off an experience that's been on my bucket list for a long time- methane bubbles trapped under a frozen lake!  The most famous location is Abraham Lake, about 150 km up the Icefields Parkway, but you can also see them at Lake Minnewanka, an easy 15 minute drive from downtown.  I have seen so many epic photos of the ice bubbles, and while I snapped some photos of my own, they were barely pedestrian, but it doesn't matter.  I really just wanted to see them and document that experience.  It is such a crazy feeling to walk across such a large body of water, frozen solid.

Watching the northern lights forecast, we were in good position for a show Thursday night, so we returned to Lake Minnewanka around 9pm to start the search.  While watching the numbers and calculations, our probability dwindled rapidly, and nonetheless, a bevy of clouds rolled in, obscuring our northern view.  Normally, I would have been bummed, but those same clouds gave us that pow day at Sunshine.  Even Stevens.

For those unfamiliar, there is a term in ski culture, and that term is Jerry.  Basically, a Jerry refers to someone who skis or snowboards and exhibits complete and utter ignorance.  Make no mistake, calling a beginner a Jerry is an oversimplification of the term and not at all accurate.  We've all been beginners, not all beginners turn into a Jerry.  Common traits of a Jerry include: zinc oxide on an overcast day, $2000 skis when you can barely walk in the $750 boots.  Latest and greatest and most expensive gear- more expensive than pro skiers/snowboarders who huck off 75 foot cliffs use.  White pants.  Using a Go Pro on the cat track.  Bragging about conquering a black diamond run (no one cares, and we saw you pizza the whole way down).  Stopping in the middle of a run to talk.  Acting entitled including being rude to lift staff, wait staff, and ski resort staff in general.  Now that you understand what a Jerry is, let me tell you, Lake Louise on a clear Saturday after 10" of new snow is an absolute Jerryfest.  It is literally a scene of people who want to be seen, and it is hilarious.  The mountain is amazing, the terrain is challenging, and the snow was wind effected by steep and deep.  We got there early enough to get on one of the first 10 chairs or so, had 3 good pow runs before it was absolutely tracked and trashed.  Since our tickets were free, we packed it in and headed back to the spa at our hotel.  After a nap, we headed into downtown for one of our favorite ramen restaurants and beavertails.

After a great day riding Sunshine Village (but no sunshine to speak of, so no summit pics)

On one of the first few chairs for a bluebird pow day at Lake Louise

Waiting for those ropes to drop at Lake Louise (too cold up top for other or decent photos)

This lady Jerry stretched for about 30 minutes, but by then, all the pow was gone :(

Lake Minnewanka at night

And by day... frozen bubbles underneath the snow and ice 

Initially, we had planned to resume our Powder Highway trip by continuing to Kicking Horse and Revelstoke, but as quickly as the snow turned on, it turned off even faster.  Knowing we have until mid April, we decided to bag it and watch for storms for a return trip.

Once we got home, we both decided we had enough chasing for a while and vowed to stay put for a while.  That lasted about 3 days as the forecast showed a huge storm moving toward the PNW.
We got about 8" of lowland snow and took advantage of the snow levels and hit some waterfalls in Olympic National Forest for some photography and solitude.

A snowy Hurricane Ridge

All white everything!

Having been in the Western WA area for other snowstorms of some magnitude, it did not sound appealing at all, and after phase 1 hit, we decided to head south to Bend, OR where there would be lots of snow but a better equipped populous and more prepared city.  We ended up with two superb days of riding (one at Hood and one at Bachelor) with a day of brewery sampling in between.

10" of snow from 5 am until noon, and no people.  A great day at Timberline Lodge Ski Area

Excellent tree riding at Mt Bachelor... do you see Shaun in the back of this photo?

Okay now we're ready to stay put for a bit!  We had been itching to get out and tour at Rainier since December, but thanks to the government shutdown and terrible avalanche conditions, we had yet to visit one of our favorite places.  Luckily, we were able to get out for some exercise and powder turns.
We were expecting sunny skies that never made an appearance, but we weren't wholly disappointed.

It's always nice when we don't have to break trail... 

but still have fresh lines!

Cold snow is the best snow

Another storm rolled through and brought a fair amount of snow to White Pass midweek allowing us to take advantage of the empty slopes and take run after run of fresh powder- finding fresh lines well into the afternoon.  That's one thing I love about getting to know an area- we know where to look long after other people have packed it in or moved on to skiing groomers.  We even got to meet up with our friend, Frelan for the afternoon.  Those days are my favorite days- probably 150 people on the whole mountain, good snow with some sun breaks, and just a relaxing, fulfilling day on the hill.

Finding fresh lines at White Pass, well into the afternoon, but if anyone asks, it's terrible there and they shouldn't go at all.

Shaun dropping into a short steep

Popping off little pillows into deep powder

Floating through the snow

We've been snowboarding and traveling with this guy for 9 years now

While winter fishing isn't at the top of most peoples' list, it is a great time to get out on the river- fewer people but still plenty of fish and scenery.  Fishing among bald eagles, bighorn sheep, and mule deer is hard to beat.  We have fished the Yakima River a lot over the years, often going to the same spots where we know fish hold, but this day, we decided after being skunked at one of our favorite spots, that we would be a bit more adventurous.  We down climbed a steep, snowy bank- a definite no fall zone- to reach a section of slow, deep water.  During cold temps, fish seek these areas where the food floats by slowly and they have to expend little energy to feed and can just hang and wait.  It is a common misconception that fish do not feed as actively in the winter.  They do feed, they just do it differently.  Think of it as work smarter, not harder.  Over the course of the summer, we came up with a "Pig Award", honoring which of us catches the largest fish (Pig is a term used to describe a sizable fish).  Shaun had been on quite a run, winning the Pig Award several straight outings, but this day belonged to me!  A fat rainbow took a liking to a coffee/black Rubber Legs and ripped it from the current.  After a battle that saw the fish make several runs, we were able to net it and admire its size and beauty.  It splashed me in the face as I set it free.  Touché.

Cold river days are not as tough to endure with this kind of scenery

River femur!

The first fish of the day 

Fishing the slow, deep water

Taking advantage of hungry trout

Chasing snow can get a little mentally tiring- the will it, won’t it, where to go game- and sometimes you just wanna go photograph some waterfalls. We decided to head down toward Scotts Mills, Oregon to photograph a few falls that had been on my list for a while (yes, I have a loooong list, a book actually). Well, we weren’t chasing the snow, but it was apparently chasing us, as we had to turn around from not one, but two objectives due to excessive snow making the forest roads impassible. Soooo, we did what we do- we went to a brewery to lick our wounds and regroup while catching up with an old friend from St Joe’s who has relocated to Salem. We decided to bite the bullet and just go to Silver Falls early the next morning because we knew it was open and accessible. I had been there before but had missed a couple of waterfalls and had never seen it in the snow, so we rose early on Tuesday and started hiking right at 8 am when the park opened. To our shock, we were the only ones there and ended up having the Rim Trail to ourselves for nearly three hours, and even then, we saw three people (and one dog on a non-friendly dog trail- ugh). It had snowed several inches the night before, and while cold in the morning (22 degrees when we set out hiking), the sun emerged and warmed the temp considerably though we were deep in a canyon and couldn’t feel much change. The winds would rustle up now and then, causing snow to blow from the tree limbs, creating a snow globe feel as the sun broke through the old growth trees. It was winter forest magic for sure!

We negotiated this hazard, but there were too many others awaiting us to continue our drive

There has been no shortage of winter waterfalls this month 

If you can brave the icy trails, the solitude and scenery are quite the treat

The sun created magical lighting conditions mid morning

The moss was nicely illuminated by the morning sun

For the last two days of February, which felt like it passed in a flash compared to eternal January, we decided to head up to the Olympic Peninsula in the van for some steelhead fishing and hiking.  Words can’t aptly describe how excited I was to get back into the van for a couple of days. Even though we’ve been able to come and go as we please since being back in WA, I never feel as free as when we are in that big white beast.  Despite running through a coastal rainforest, the Hoh River was extremely low as the only significant precipitation in days came in the form of snow, much of which still lingered, none of which did any good for river flows or fish activity.  Low water levels combined with bluebird sunny days were not the recipe for conventionally successful fishing, but the scenery more than made up for the subpar fishing.  In addition to flow anomalies, there was also the issue of the cold- it reached the low 20's to upper teens during the night, which really tested the van's insulation.  Luckily, we have plenty of blankets and a propane heater that allows us to remain comfortable at night.  We ended up waiting for the temps to warm up and fished later in the evening as we were pessimistic, at best, at our prospects of landing fish.  During the mornings we headed to the beach or along the trails spotting elk.  Spending the last days of February van camping in a sunny, frigid, dry rainforest turned out to be a perfect way to close out the shortest month of our journey.  

Felt great, albeit cold, to be back in the van some 

Hundreds of elk along the Hoh River 

Sunny days in the rainforest 

Mornings were frigid, afternoons were t-shirt weather

The Pacific

Short beach walk just after high tide started receding

Heading to the river 

Waiting for Shaun to put together his bamboo rod (it has to be taped together)

It's hard to believe March is our last full month here and that we'll be back on the road starting April 1st.  Some people have asked what we are planning for April.  Well, the first two weeks we'll be on the road, probably somewhere warmer and sunnier so we can get some hiking/training in because April 15th, we leave for Chile, Argentina, and Peru until May 20th!  We found unbelievable deals on airfare and will be able to stay on budget with the generous exchange rates and reasonable prices in S America.  More details to come in the March installment, but we are so excited to get back down to Patagonia as well as do some exploring in areas we have yet to visit.  Until next time, thanks for the support, friends!