Snow Day!

Well, it's been nearly a week since we got back from our week in Montana, but I had a conference in San Antonio that I was doing a presentation at and a lot of other stuff going on at work so I'm just now back home again and have a little spare time to make a post. I'm getting some other stuff done in the barn as well, but since it has been 105+ the last several days I'm taking a break during the heat of the day. Kinda makes this post even more amazing.

We decided to take the ATV and my motorcycle up Arasta Creek and show my brother Arasta Lake. It isn't that great of a lake and isn't worth the 7 mile one way hike to get to it if you don't have an ATV or motorcycle, but it is one of the few trails that they do allow you to use an ATV or motorcycle on so it is well worth it then. And the ride is as fun as the destination.

We ended up heading up there on June 30th so we were expecting there to still be some snow, just not as much as we ended up encountering! I made a post last year when I went up there with my friend Mike, but then we were able to go all the way to the lake very easily and even made it up to the top of another trail that ended up at 10,000 ft. Things were going well and we got into some snow around the 8,500 ft mark. Here's a shot of where we were headed.

Then we ran into a pretty good sized drift right across the trail. (That's my brother Frank on the ATV and his wife Kerry watching and my bike parked in the background)

We still had nearly a mile to go at this point and I started to get a little nervous. I had expected that we were going to find some snow, but the snow was finding us! Our ATV is only a 2wd and works well under most circumstances, but it didn't really like the snow. The front wheels just plowed into the somewhat soft snow and the rear wheels just spun out. We tried working around the edges, but there wasn't much edge to work around on several sections of the trail. I was surprised that my motorcycle actually seemed to make it through better than the 2wd ATV.

Here's the next decent snow across the trail. Anywhere there was shade across the trail there was snow.

Here's a short video clip of my brother going back through that patch of snow on the way back down.


Here's where we about gave up the first time. We actually left the ATV just up around the corner here. I kept after it on my bike as I could skirt around the snow a little better and it actually went through the snow pretty well for the most part.
This is looking back down the trail. I can't remember if the ATV made it this far or not.
Here's the first spot that I left the bike at. The kickstand isn't down, but it was so stuck in the snow it didn't matter! I actually ended up making it through this spot and probably another couple hundred yards down the trail before giving up and walking.
Here I am standing by the bike while it was in the drift. The snow was hard enough that for the most part with my big feet I stayed on top, but every once in a while you would break through.

Here's a video clip of me coming back through that spot on our way back down. Nothing exciting, but you can get a feel for what it was like riding through the snow.


After abandoning the vehicles we still had maybe a 1/2 mile to go to the lake. We started off on foot, but walking uphill at 9,000+ ft elevation is a little more effort than you might expect.

It started raining (it pretty much rained every afternoon we were there) and then my brother said all we need now is for it to snow, so of course mother nature obliged us! It was kind of like hail, but much softer. The temperature was above freezing but not much. Talking with some locals they said that it was called "popcorn snow". Little balls about a 1/2" in diameter. There was enough of them to pretty much cover the ground.

After huddling under some trees trying to avoid the rain and snow for 30 minutes or so, we ended up making it to the lake.
Here's a picture from nearly the same exact spot last year on August 1st. I wasn't able to get the motorcycle in the picture this year though!
After a few pictures around the lake, we headed back. This picture gives some pretty good perspective on the snow. We weren't trying to find snow, we were trying to AVOID snow and this was the best route down at one point.
After we got back to the ATV and the bike, of course it started raining again. The temperature was still in the upper 30's or lower 40's and although I had my motorcycle protective gear on, my brother was just wearing a T-shirt. Needless to say it was a cold ride back down the mountain on a pretty treacherous trail.

My bike went over for the first time on the way back down. There are 2 creek crossings and 1 of them isn't very wide, but this time of year the water was close to 2 feet deep. I stalled out climbing up the other side of the creek, and couldn't hold the bike up against the current and it fell over in the creek. Thankfully, I was able to get it started right back up and walked it out of the creek without much problems. Of course waterproof boots don't work too well in 2 feet of water, but the bike ended up with just some light scratches on the handle bar end so that part was good.

We didn't get to ride as much as last time but it was still worth taking them up there. It was one of those times in your life where it wasn't that much fun when it was actually happening, but looking back on it makes it seem like it was alot better than it was. Especially sitting here in 105+ degree heat!

I may make another post on our week at church camp in Montana and I've got a few projects I'll post on as I get to them.

Had a great time at camp, but it is good to be home!

Nathan