Waterproof leather boots are the right thing to wear when backpacking, if you expect to be around water much. I had been using nubuck cross-training shoes for years, because they are lightweight and inexpensive. Unfortunately they don't keep water out when you are going across a wet meadow or hiking in a rainstorm. I found some waterproof leather boots at a good price, and have worn them the last two times out. Combine these boots with some gators tied down tight and you can just about step into a stream without getting wet feet. I'm not sure why it took me this long to switch over. I guess I am basically cheap until I find something on sale at a good price.

When I first wore my boots a couple of weeks ago they felt good right off. It seems as if they didn't require a breakin period - were immediately comfortable and my feet didn't get sore. Me and the dogs followed a tiny stream off trail into the backcountry on this trip. When the canyon leveled out I clmbed a saddle between two hills and sat up my tent on a ridge with boulders around its edges. It was smooth and level back behind the rocks, and was near a perfect campsite. I could go back down to the stream for water, and sit on the boulders with the dogs to watch the sky and the valley below.

It was a full moon while I was out. I slept well and had many dreams. The one I remember was of a mountain range with fresh snow that I wanted to visit, but my nature center friends didnt. I took leave of them in my dream to go by myself, but first had to go home and get Ben and Maggie.

Now that I look back I see that may have been a premonition to how I spent the next weekend. I attended and Environmental Education conference up near Fraser. Instead of staying in the dorms at Snow Mountain Ranch I camped with the dogs a few miles away in the National Forest. It was snowing when I arrived on Friday, and snowed hard again most of Saturday. For a short while I could see stars Saturday night, and I figured the bad weather was going to move out. I awoke Sunday morning with snow coming down again.

What beautiful weather though - all the trees were covered with snow, there was very little wind, and it didn't get that could - into the high teens at night. I discovered the best way to stay warm in winter weather is to bring along two sleeping bags. I place my light two-pound summer sleeping bag into my heavy six pound winter bag, and was toasty warm, all night. My tent is small enough that it acts as a heat trap, and the water I had inside didn't freeze. My water jugs in the back of the pickup were frozen solid.

I have read of an native american tribe that believed that God lived in the cold north country, and equated high snow-covered mountains with purity and goodness. I can understand that, and feel a little of the same way. Snow simplifies and cleanses the landscape, and it does the same for the hearts and minds of those who go out into it, in solitude.