I know I keep talking about the heat this summer; actually yesterday morning I started musing that it’s already August, September will soon be here (although September is usually still a warm month in these parts), and the next thing you know it will be autumn. That led me to wonder how much rain and snow we’ll get this coming winter and if the drought is truly over or if this past season was just a one-off. Only time will tell as far as that’s concerned, but in the meantime…

It was amazing to find snow still hanging around when we went hiking in the mountains last weekend. I wasn’t too surprised to see it up on the highest peaks, but big piles of it blocked our trail in a few spots, forcing us to either find another way forward or to cross it… very carefully! This beautiful snowmelt pond covered up the trail completely at one point:

In other places, snow that had melted farther up the hill was running down the trail and eating away at the remaining snowbanks:

This little outing was the first time in a good long while since I got to play in the snow. And the first time ever in August!