Beauty and all that crap (too many pictures too)

The snow bank is so high on the side of the road that I had to take a picture through the bank.

Yesterday I woke up to 5 degree F temperatures.  At 10 am, 6 hours later, it was 11 degrees F.  It was -12 in Jackson (9 miles as the crow flies) so I guess we were lucky here.  Regardless, my motivation to be outside in the freezing cold for 4 - 6 hours was pretty small.  I really wanted to run but not be cold and sweaty and carrying many pounds of hats, pants, gloves, etc in addition to all the water and food I have to carry because there's nowhere to refill along the way.  

My attitude about this cold weather stinks.  When most of the US is looking forward to warmer temperatures and flowers, we can't even start letting ourselves look forward to that here because we're going to get hit with some big snow storms and bitter cold weather for a couple of months before warmth is a possibility.

Beauty and all that crap...so on my run, when I finally got my lazy, unmotivated ass out the door, I tried really hard to appreciate the pretty and amusing sights along the way.  I am really looking forward to getting back on the trails, wrestling bears and getting dirty when I run!  Here are too many pictures.

Paul running toward me on Cedron Road with the Big Holes in the background.  We had different routes on our runs yesterday but passed each other.

The only green I've seen outside for months.  It's a warm spring.

The Grand, Middle and South Tetons

It's even colder in the shade!  Beautiful, hilly road with no traffic right against the Big Hole mountains.

A shot up sign.  I'm not exactly sure why it's fun to shoot up signs but it seems to be a past time around here.  

Pine Creek campground in the winter.  There's well over 3 feet of snow covering this campground.

View, looking west, over the top of Pine Creek Pass.

Here's the snowmobile portion of the program.  The parking lot at the top of Pine Creek Pass was FULL of snowmobile apparatus.  Seeing all of these expensive vehicles that tow expensive trailers, that hold very expensive toys can make a person wonder if there's really a problem with the economy.

One way to tow a snowmobile and get it off the trailer.

When you don't have a trailer or ramp, you back your truck up to a snow bank and drive it off the back of your truck.

Beautiful view on the way down Pine Creek pass.

A view of the Grand on the way down Pine Creek pass.  

Running past the local elk farm.  Only in Idaho.

Cows at the dairy farm playing Queen of the Mountain on a frozen pile of cow crap.