Some may think the task of waking up at 4am to report the snow conditions a tedious one, but really it's amazing what you see at that hour besides temperatures and snow depths.
As I walked out of my house and took a deep breath, I couldn't help but think the crisp scent of sweet pine is intensified at that hour. I drove down Hwy 50 towards Echo Summit as I sipped my eggnog flavored coffee. Passing that dark 6 mile stretch to Myers I could see what seemed like every star it the sky. It is so peaceful at that time of day, no noise, no traffic, no worries. As I hung a left at the Sierra at Tahoe welcome sign into the resort, everything was dark save where my snowy and dusty headlights pointed. In my view was a silhouette of a smallish furry creature. As I approached, and it retreated, I made the form out as a coyote.
I thought surprised and delighted to see some wildlife," oh look a coyote!" and expected him to scurry off into the woods. He must have been confused however, because as he ran and looked back at the beast that was my Subaru, he only continued to run up the road. He didn't dart into the forest at all like I expected, just straight up the road and as I accelerated so did he.
At one point I clocked us both at 25 miles an hour. He was determined to keep his distance so the swift little guy matched my speed mile for mile. I found it humorous for some reason but was also quite impressed. With his speed that is, not his decision to follow the paved road. Finally, after a few accelerations and decelerations to test his skills, I came to a complete halt. The coyote ran off into the distance until I could no longer see him. I thought he was gone, but when I started up again there he was- what was he doing there!? I think at one point I may have called him a silly nerd and yelled at him to get out of the road, window down and everything. I said it and laughed, like he would really understand but, nothing else was working. At long last I tried to pass him on the left, which forced him to veer into the woods where he should've been some miles back.
It was a funny little interlude, but the point is you can experience some really cool things when you wake up at an hour where only the stars and animals roam. I’m sure those dedicated powder hounds who drive from hours away to make first chair on a powder day can attest to this. I encourage everyone to do it or, do it more often.
P.S. 9 lifts running, 3 parks, top to bottom and mixed sun and clouds on the hill. With the sun shining, it looks like another great day on the slopes!
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