Drove up Flagstaff intending to hike the upper half of Green with Allison, Sierra and the babies. In a matter of 5 road miles it went from a nice calm, warm, sunny day, to cloudy, cold and windy. Drove back down and was hoping to park in my usual spot, but it was of course full due to added pressure from the Gregory lot being closed and competition with sledders (not sure why they plow the Gregory lot, then close it? I'm sure they have some twisted "logic" though). We ended up lucking out on a spot at Chautauqua. The entire area had a holiday feel to it with kids sledding and out of towners bumbling around in cars and on snowshoes, nobody really knowing where they were going or what they were doing.
It was still windy walking across Chautauqua, but once we got in the trees and started up the Saddle Rock Trail (skipping the usual Amphitheater approach), the day improved dramatically. Once we got to Saddle Rock, the wind picked up again on the ridge and the trail was drifted over, so much so that we helped an out of town trail runner find his way. At the Greenman junction, I gave the runner directions to find the summit of Green, while debating what to do ourselves. I was of course pushing to go to the summit, but we would be stretching it as it was with the girls (not to mention the wind was a bit too much as well), so we headed down Greenman/Gregory, where the sun came out and it got really nice and warm.
Me and Isabelle
Allison and Amelie
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