Sunny 46

Last weekend, Sunny had issues with iceballs on his feet even though I thought I'd prepped him well enough. Wendy helped me pick out a razor and a treatment for the paws. Although we had a lot of family stuff this weekend, I was lucky enough to be able to have another go at Erebus this weekend. The temperatures were forecast to be 30 degrees warmer than last weekend. I assumed the trail conditions would be ice tracks with puddles and slush. I was so certain of this that I put my microspikes on my boots the night before. I left my snowpants at home this time because I didn't want to get overheated in the 35-40 Farenheit temps. Let's gooooooooooo...! The trails were a bit different than I thought they'd be. The ice was almost completely gone, replaced with a crunchy, messy, crust. The snow itself was wet; very wet. I took off my microspikes and put on my snowshoes. I also stripped off my windbreaker despite the bit of snow falling from the trees. I had plenty of layers to...

  My original intention this past weekend in Lake George was to hike out to Erebus and then back over Sleeping Beauty. I'd emailed the DEC about the status of Shelving Rock Road the day before and the helpful employee at Ray Brook was able to get a response from the ranger in charge of that area in a few short hours, which was awesome. It was going to be pretty cold, but not the worst. The forecast high was 21 Farenheit with 5mph winds in that area. It was only going to be 5 Farenheit around dawn, so I didn't leave first thing. Instead, I made family breakfast and trimmed up Sunny's paws before leaving. When we arrived at the Hogtown Trailhead, we were geared up by 9am and I was a bit concerned. The wind was much stronger than forecast, but I decided to have an honest go of it. Besides, this guy was stoked. By the time we got down the road about a quarter of a mile, the wind had died down to just about nothing. I think it's possible the wind coming up from the lake gets...