Good day for a hike

WEstern Forest Survey Pole

Beautiful day it just took me a bit longer to get all my gear together , Pack some dog food for the dog and mixed up some hazelnuts with chocolate chips and some raisin bran for myself then the first aid kit , matches dry gloves , GPS, camera, and water , put my gaiters on, warm gear and off I went for a hike up towards mt Brenton , I followed south watts road and coming to a creek it was a bit slippery the snow was still here and the log I crossed on was getting icy so I ended up crawling across it, Hiking under the forest canopy wasn't bad seeing the snow wasnt that deep here although there were a few gullies of water running down the trail so some time you couldn't help but step in the water , I noticed a lot of trees had fallen down and this took a bit of climbing over or under the trees, the trail it self wasnt bad except at one spot it had washed down the creek and here i had to cling to the side of the hill so that i could pass this section, at a different spot I had to walk across a log with water running under it and here my dog decided to come back for me so he game from the opposite Way wanting to cross the log and darted between my legs it took a bit of a balancing act to stay upright or else I would have been swimming , the snow was getting deeper here and I had to look for the best way to go forward sometimes stepping on a canopy of snow that was covering branches or a tree so when you stept on it you sank down an other foot or so, I had gone a bit further up this trail than usual and coming to a fork in the trail turned right. my gps only showed me that I was hiking along a fairly level stretch and it didn't show this branch of the trail, going along this trail to see where it would end up I found it only went aways till it ran into a creek so turning back aways I found out that I was about a half a mile above twin fir cabin , having the cabin as a way point on my gps i turned east and followed the compass till it led me towards the cabin , not using the compass I found that I kept on going the wrong way which is easy to do because you always had to go around or over things but going through the woods was easier then the trail less snow and no rocky wash outs that I would have to go over. A few times on the trail I found the dog looking at me waiting for me to lift him out of a hole he had sunk in , here my snow shoes would have come in handy which in hind sight I had left at home. Not a soul at the cabin so we sat and had a bite to eat enjoying the quit and peaceful ness before doing the last stretch to civilization.