Today was a beautiful clear sunny day, although pretty chilly. Fog was laying in the valleys in big eerie patches and swirling up through the forested hillsides. When we reached the lot, there was plenty of parking, which is nice. There were about a dozen cars there, so I expected a moderately busy trail. I think most of them must have been doing Gothic Basin because on the way out I was passed by a group of 3 people and that is it! I never saw them when I was up there either so the pups and I had Monte Cristo to ourselves. Amazing!
The first water crossing is on a log and it was wet and slick for the first have and covered with ice for the 2nd channel. It was too sketchy for me, so I rock-hopped the 2nd channel.
One of the cool things I saw was damp branches had hairs of ice sprawling out of them. It looked like white muppet fluff, and if you touched it it just instantly melted away. I have seen ice do a lot of things, but this may be a new one for me.
The cold made everything glittery and beautiful in a new way. There was a little area of grasses that were completely covered with frozen dew drops.
We saw a cute little squirrel eating a pine cone. He looked shocked that we'd be so rude as to stop and watch him munch. I also spotted a mountain goat browsing up a draw right before Monte Cristo, but all my photos were blurry butt photos of it.
Monte Cristo itself was freezing cold and the old iron artifacts were rimed with frost.
The views up to the town and back were stunning, with the icy white peaks gleaming against the blue blue sky.
What a wonderful day out!
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