One of the peculiarities of winter here in the Bear Creek and Rogue River valleys is the inversion. Between storms, when the winds are quiet, cold air can become trapped (inverted) under a warm layer about 1,000 feet above the valley floor. Then it metamorphoses into a thick layer of dense, gloomy Mordor-esque fog near the ground. This gloom can, if you don’t arm yourself with a technological augury, fool you into moping around the house feeling sorry for yourself because it’s too gloomy to go hiking. Oh, boo hoo. 😥
To avoid unnecessary moping, we’ve learned to use the webcams at the Mount Ashland ski area to see whether the gloom outside is due to an inversion or to storm clouds stacked to the heavens. If it’s an inversion, we go up to hike; if it’s storm clouds, we quickly rationalize continued moping. This morning the cameras showed just an inversion, with sunlight and a dusting of fresh snow not far above us on Roxy Ann Peak. So off we went for a short morning exercise hike up the peak. There we enjoyed making the first (human) tracks in the new snow and savored the sunlight while it lasted (which wasn’t long 🙄 )!
BOOTS on the TRAIL 
Thanks!
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Thanks! Snow adds a sublime beauty to Roxy Ann. But it’s also nice in the spring when the wildflowers appear and in the fall when there is some color in the leaves. An added plus are the flocks of colorful bluebirds that occupy the oaks on the mountain for a few months in the winter. 🙂
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Wonderful photos–thanks for sharing!
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Those are fantastic shots! That must be Roxy Ann at its prettiest.
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We found several mid-sized dead trees down across the trail that had probably been finished off by the wind. This gave us a sense of your hiking adventure. Did we “cheat?” Well, let’s just say that retirement gives us the option of picking the weather we like to hike in. 🙂 Also great news about Dollar Mountain. Add it to the Bolt Mountain, Cathedral Hills, and Mountain of the Rogue hiking options near GP! 😀
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We see you cheated and waiting for the snow to arrive instead of testing out the winds on Roxy Ann like we did Saturday. After seeing your pictures and experiencing both, we prefer the snow too. Oh to be retired! P.S. Didn’t know if you read in the news recently that Grants Pass Parks purchased the Dollar Mountain area and 2 other properties connected to it and are planning to create new trails in the near future. Dollar Mountain will now be the same size as Cathedral HIlls Park in GP.
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Thanks! 😊
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I love how snow softens landscapes. Beautiful shots!
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Thanks! Fixed the typo. We used to live up north but were lured down here by promises of sunshine and snow we can visit at our discretion. 🙂
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Nice pics. I usually will go out in most any weather. I run trails. Though, seeing the trail when it’s snowing is different than seeing the trail when it has snowed. Something I can avoid here in the northern part of the state. Thanks for the peak. (Oh by the way, it’s quiet not quite)
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