The Beautiful and Broken

It was a sunny winter day.  We left Analise with her daddy and headed up to beautiful White River on the East side of Mt. Hood.

Amy got to try her snowshoes for the second time.   We also brought the sled.  The plan was to snowshoe while we had good energy and then hit the sledding hills on the way back.

The day started with some sun and clouds.  The snow was sparkling and almost perfect for playing in!  The weather was pretty warm with no wind.  We got warmed up quickly and began shedding layers.

We trekked past the sledding crowds and quickly entered snow paradise!

Amy enjoyed blazing her own trails through the deep snow.

We enjoyed the view, being together, and not having a grumpy baby with us.

 

The river and untouched snow were breathtaking!

Amy had great endurance and we kept at it toward the mountain view.

When we got close, there were no clouds at all and Mt. Hood stood before us in all it's beauty.

Some other snowshoers were having a race.  We cheered them on but are not up to running on snowshoes!

Amy likes posing with her mouth open.  I was proud of her for snowshoeing about 4 miles total today.

We decided to try to take the "high road" but could not quite make it up, so we slid back down the hill.

By the time we got back to sledding hills, Amy was too tired for sledding and I decided she deserved a ride down the trail for the last little piece.

Amy and I made it back to the parking lot first and were being careful watching for cars.  Unfortunately, we did not see the black ice behind our Subaru.  We both slipped, and I landed hard on my right palm with all my weight.  I almost passed out  but Amy encouraged me to "be brave".  The two hour ride to urgent care with snow on my wrist was excruciating.  When we got the x-rays they showed a complex fracture in my arm/ wrist.  They had to set the bone and I ended up with a splint.  The doctor says "No restrictions on hiking.  Just avoid ice!"  The bone was set perfectly back in place and if it doesn't move I should not need surgery.  I think this is the end of this year's very short snowshoeing adventure season, but our baby hates snow, so I'm sure we will find other great winter adventures.