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Yes, the weather forecasters were indeed correct in their prediction. It snowed last night. When I awoke this morning and looked out the window at seven o’clock, all that I could see was gray. The sky, the horizon, everything was gray. This is a big change from the blue sky that I have experienced almost every day since I arrived nearly two weeks ago. Gradually, the fog lifted every so slightly, and I could make out whiteness on the mountains.
It is an off day for me today, with only an accuracy shooting workout planned. As I was on my way to Soldier Hollow, it dawned on me that it was still officially summer. Only on Wednesday will it be autumn. I filled up the truck with gas and drove towards the mountains and a road that I knew would take me higher up.
The road turned to gravel as it entered Wasatch State Park, just northwest of Midway. I could not longer see any snow as the fog and clouds had sunken again lower to the ground, hugging the mountains, protecting the secret that I knew they held. Soon, the drizzle turned to large snow flakes and I could see more and more of the snow sticking to the leaves on the sides of the switch-back-crazy road.
Around one of the many switch-backs, ahead of me, there was just a blanket of white on everything. I drove further. It became ever deeper. Soon the road became slushy and the truck hesitated a bit on the steeper climbs. As I made my way over a pass, I looked down, and the entire alpine valley was white. There were higher mountains that were blanket white, while the floor of the valley, with its quaking gold aspen and green pines, were sponge-painted with snow.
As I drove higher up, the clouds thinned and blue sky emerged. Having awoken to a dark gray sky, I had left my sunglasses behind. Up here, as I went outside to walk in the snow and take some pictures, my eyes strained beneath the intense sunlight reflected off of the vivid overnight snowfall.
It is supposed to continue snowing in the mountains, perhaps even heavier at times, through Wednesday. Who knows? My planned distance classic ski tomorrow could be on skinny skis, not rollerskis.
Winter is truly just above the clouds.
Peace,
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