I kind of hit the ground running this morning – off to do the CPR loop trail. I knew it would take 6 plus hours and didn’t want to leave Abby alone for too long.

I wasn’t counting on what had happened in the mountains overnight.

Snow! Lots of snow! And the snow line was right down to the trailhead. Luckily, it was only an inch or two at the deepest. But man, there were a few icy sections. Downright treacherous. No surprise that I encountered only one other person today – he did the trail in an anti-clockwise loop while I went in the opposite direction. In other words, we left good footprints for each other.

I admit, that near the beginning of the hike, I almost lost heart. I wasn’t about to turn back – but I had a plan B and C in mind: if the stream crossing was dangerous, I would turn back – and so on.

It wasn’t until I was two hours into the hike that I began to connect to my surroundings and appreciate the beauty that was all around me.

And so I am immensely grateful that I persevered (and still she persisted! Ha!) and did the full loop. It was almost one p.m. by the time I got to the top – found a sunny place for lunch – beautiful.

And then down – which was far trickier than going up.

And so – that was my day. Content to be home now – had a hot bath. fed Abby, cuddled Abby, took Abby out.

Tomorrow – the political work continues.