January 10th, 2017

The earth, that is sufficient / I do not want the constellations any nearer, / I know they are very well where they are , / I know they suffice for those who belong to them. Whitman

Morning y'all,
It's a cloudy, snowy morning up top. The high yesterday reached 29 degrees. The overnight low was 11 degrees, recorded shortly after observation yesterday. It was 28 degrees and cloudy at 7am observation. The mountain received no new precipitation and there is about 2 inches of snow remaining. The snow has been packed out a bit and is still quite slick. I would recommend carrying Microspikes if you intend to reach the summit. It's an eerie, quiet day up top - get out and enjoy it!

Grace and I went out for our evening sunset stroll and saw a few surprising things. First off, there were other human tracks on the mountain! 441 and Cherokee Orchard road yesterday morning and we met two folks spending the night in the shelter. Even more surprising, as we wandered out there, Grace noticed a bear track! I have seen bear tracks up here in the snow, but was surprised to see the big fella getting out after how cold the past few days have been. The track came sometime yesterday (it was rather warm up here during the day) - we did not notice the track the previous two nights on our evening rounds. Even odder, on the way back to our cabin we saw some tracks - a bit too big for fox and bobcat, but the snow was rather powdery so it was hard to get the texture and shape of the print. Finally, we reached a windswept area where we could make out a cloven hoof! I have never seen a deer or deer track up here in the snow, but if there is a year for the unusual, this is it...