Saturday morning dawned brightly, and very early.\u00a0 We were on the road by 6am to head up to the White Mountains to explore a new trail.\u00a0 Since we grabbed breakfast at the corner convenience store in St. Johns before hitting the road, by the time we reached the mountains we were ready for a stop at the rest area with the pretty view.\u00a0 We were shocked by frigid gusts when we tumbled out of the van (driving Minty, obviously, as we couldn’t possibly trust Jimminy on the road).\u00a0 So unaccustomed are we to the temperatures at that elevation, only one of us had a jacket along!\u00a0 I shiveringly took some shivery pics of shivering kids in front of the lovely morning vista before we raced back into the warmth and shelter of the van to continue our drive up the mountain.\u00a0 Along the way, I spotted a cow elk with her calf grazing in the field out the side window, and Paul turned us around so we could see if she would stand still for a picture.\u00a0 She did not, but I managed to catch a few glimpses as the two of them trotted off into the trees on the other side of the road.<\/p>\n
We reached our destination and were pleased to be the only vehicle parked by the Indian Spring trailhead.\u00a0 One of the first things we deduced upon disembarking was that in the woods, there are mosquitoes.\u00a0 We have become so completely spoiled by desert life that this was unexpected, and we were unprepared, having never even considered picking up bug spray.\u00a0 There was much spastic flailing as we trudged up the trail, until we reached higher heights and they thinned out a bit.<\/p>\n
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