We
saw that there was snow on the volcano and decided it would be fun
to experience a little New Years eve day snow. Driving up the side
of the volcano, the police stopped us saying, "For your own safety
you may go no further." They were being a little over protective...
there was only about 3/4 of an inch of snow.
So
we decided to hike. It started out as a little adventure, but after
getting into some untracked snow, we were hooked. We reached the summit,
decended into the crater and past the 2 lakes inside and then decided
to try an alternate decent on the north-west face.
After
decending through a 30 minute blizzard of skin stinging pellet-like
snow, we found ourselves in a beautiful area just below the treeline.
We had been hiking for 4 1/2 hours at this point but were still exhuberant
at the beauty around us.
Then
we got lost, asked a cowboy who lived in a wooden shack for directions,
and walked 1 1/2 hours more until we found our way back to a road
where we hitched as ride to where we'd parked our car 6 hours before.
Today
- January 1st, 2001 - we ache just about everywhere. But it was worth
it <smile>
