And Again

I know that I have mentioned this frequently during the past month, but the train of winter storms has continued to fill the sky with spectacular clouds.  At the risk of boring my reader, I am posting about it again.  I was out this afternoon with the intention of leaving the camera in the pocket and stretching the legs for a couple of miles, but the beauty could not be ignored.

Black Mountain

Tony suggested Black Mountain, so we went out there yesterday under a leaden sky.  It didn't rain or snow, but the trail was so saturated from the past few storms that the mud nearly covered my boots.  It will be better after a little sun gets on it.  On the other hand, with the dark soil and the low elevation (less than 5000 feet), it will be unpleasant to hike there in the sun.  We need sun when we're in town and clouds when we're on Black Mountain.

Clouds and Cloud Shadows

One nice thing about the cold, cloudy, stormy, wintery weather is, well, the clouds.  In the Great Basin, the sky is often boring—clear and blue for days on end.  The frequent winter storms have broken the monotony.  The three of us were out yesterday afternoon, with EDO and I heading home along a ridge near Shinobe.  The clouds (and their shadows) over the Parowan Valley were, of course, dramatic.

Crossing to Safety

It has been one of the colder and wetter months of the past ten years.  We've become accustomed to 50 degree days and quickly melting snow during February.  This time, however, the snow has stayed and we are still having temperatures in the teens.  It feels like winter.  One thing I do not like is crossing Nevada (above) when it is cold and snowy, and I had pretty much decided not to ever do it again.  Then I got stuck out there Thursday night with several hundred miles of ice and snow between me and The Homestead.  It finally cleared up when I hit the Utah border in the morning (below).

McCoy

Skiing in the Sierra is really good right now.  I put in a few miles today near McCoy Reservoir.  There were some flurries, but here and there the sun poked through.  As it set, I caught a glimpse of the snow-capped volcanic cone of Mt. Lassen.

Snow in the Sierra

I really wanted to spend a couple hours on the skis, but by the time I got out there it was dusky.  The wind was blowing, the snow was falling sideways, and the highway was snow-packed.  I decided to go 30 minutes out and 30 minutes back.  The snow was about four feet deep, but this is the Sierra, so it was dense.  Perfect for skiing.  I saw nothing and heard nothing (except the wind) for an hour.  Probably what heaven is like.

Cloudscapes

When I was in Utah last week, we had some spectacular clouds (above).  This weekend, northern California had some, too (below).