Spring is Here

 Spring happiness:

Last snow (probably)--March 27, 2026

We had a really warm three weeks or so and then the forecast called for snow.   It tried a little in town, but I suspected the snow might be having more success in the mountains, so I looked at webcams.  Yes!  On March 27, my work scheduled suddenly got shortened, so I ran home, packed, and caught the bus to the highest place I could get to quickly:  Tesák.  I expected a dusting in the slightly higher and more sheltered villages we passed.  Nothing.  I really expected to see a bit of snow as we began climbing toward Troják.  Nothing until right before the ski area, where the coating was light and patchy.  But by the time we got to Tesák (only about 100 meters / 300 feet higher), I saw this:

And it just got better.

On the wind-blown ridges, the snow was far deeper than I expected.  Since the only footprints before me had given up and gone back, there was nothing to follow and I got seriously off the trail a couple of times, where I sometimes broke through drifts up to mid thigh.  I really wished I'd packed slowly enough to remember my gaiters.   

 Luckily, there were extremely useful trail signs like this:

Some views from ridges:

Snow goblins:

Pretty bark:

The stairs of the viewtower:

I really wished, at that moment, that I'd packed slowly enough to pack my snow gloves.  But I hadn't anticipated this much snow so they weren't pressing on my mind.  It was super windy, and the stairs were snowy and possibly icy, and I knew I would have to hold the railing to feel safe.  But...the railing was snowy. 

If I held it with my cloth gloves, they'd get wet and I'd be miserable the long rest of the hike.  So I took off my gloves and did it barehanded.  I only got about two-thirds of the way up before I knew I needed to head down before they got too numb to function.  I still got good views:

I spent a few minutes in the outhouse (the only place protected from the wind), drying and warming my hands before I put my little gloves back on.

The rest of the hike was beautiful, with the snow in the foreground and the green valley below.  And then the perfect end to a spring hike:

Polička, Czechia

I recently had an hour between my train and bus in Polička, so I went exploring, having no idea how cool the historical center of this little town was.  So, yeah.  Europe's not awesome or anything.  And it's not like I'm a fan of old town walls.

Žaba (Frog) Rock

 An aptly named rock formation near Vsetín, Czech Republic:

And the formation from the other, mossier side:  

Rogue bits of snow, still hiding out in the shade (picture taken Feb 28, after a big warm-up):

River High, River Low

Two things I love about a temperate, four-seasons climate:

-Change

-Rivers

And here you see both together.  Sorry that I didn't get the perspective consistent, but that white graffiti under the bridge is the same graffiti in each picture.

During snowmelt:

Two days later:

Now:

The river was amazing this winter.  First it froze. People scraped snow off perfect rectangles and played hockey on it.  Then it started melting in interesting and sometimes hard-to-explain patterns.  Then sudden warmth turned it into a raging brown torrent full of floating pieces of ice.  As it receded it turned an opaque blue-green, like some glacier-fed rivers I've seen in Alaska and the Alps.  Now it's back to its gentle, crystal-clear state.  So cool.

Another view of a different spot on the same three days.  The path leading down to the river is the same road leading down to the same river.

Snow Friends

I saw this snowbear (snowdog?) on the way home from work a few weeks ago and made him a snowturtle friend.

Editors Needed

So yes, there's a grammar mistake on this expensive-looking, official sign.  Some capitalization and punctuation problems.  But I'm not sure you can blame the altitude problem on language issues.  

I was still very happy they tried English...and it gave me a smile (and delusional bragging rights).  Plus, I suppose that if they'd added mm to the altitude, it might technically be correct.