Let's Try a Little Winter
Now that April is here, I guess it is safe to talk about Winter. it was a mild winter up here in the hills & I have discovered the joys of getting lost in the woods on snowshoes. In January I walked up to Long Lake. More snow than a month earlier.
A few weeks later, the snow has all dried up in the lower elevations. The view is toward Mt Lassen which is engulfed in the cloud cover,

While wandering around in the woods in the lower elevations.... I was intrigued by how the ice freezes around the layers of pine needles.
I got up really early one morning to grab this shot of the sunrise just hitting Mount Lassen. Ooh, the smudge in the air... It looks like quite a few people heat with wood fires.

What would a post about Winter be without a picture of icicles? Breaking trail up to a lake I found a big rock with big icicles.
Tromp, tromp, tromp. O'er the lovin' hills.
'Til 'last ye find the meadows kind
an' stop to rest your fill.
The Edge of a snow drift where it meets the front of a small dam. The dam channels the wind along to the edge and helps to form these interesting patterns.

The night before had snow with pretty good winds. So all of the windward sides of the trees were encrusted with snow for a few hours.

One long slide and then another. One morning I was up in the hills just about 6000 feet (1800m) and came across this playful track. "What... Otters? Up here?" I thought. The lakes are all frozen and there are no rivers up here just a couple of small creeks. I wonder what it had for breakfast.
This is taken from the ridge to the Northwest of Gold Lake looking NNW. At the base of Mount Elwell you can catch a glimpse of Long Lake. Big Bear Lake is just below right of center this entire area drains down Graeagle Creek to the Feather River