It's Winter... Get Outside And Enjoy The Snow!

Beep... Beep... Beep... Beep... Beep... Your alarm on your phone goes off, it's time to get up and face another week of work, but what's worse than that is the thought of getting into your car. Sitting out in the cold all night, it's covered in frost, the leather is nearly frozen, and your driving gloves have a hole in them. You drive to work peering through the small opening in the windshield that slowly grows as the car gets warmer ever so slowly. Coffee or hot cocoa in hand, you make it to the office, your cubical looking over the parking lot, covered in snow. 10:00 am rolls around... "Jerry, come look at this sweet ski video on Youtube! Man, I wish I could do things like that!"

Winter rolls around, the snow falls, and the dividing line grows more and more as it gets colder and colder. The serious backcountry enthusiasts rejoice as they see new snow fall, knowing the turns in the powder on the mountain are going to be amazing. Mean while, the rest of us find ourselves with a mug in hand, wishing we were outside, wishing for green meadows and a warm sun. It happens every year, we fear the cold, we hate the cold, we despise the cold!

However, we love the outdoors right? Or at least we claim that we do, and therefore, fulfilling the need to get out and experience the cold and beauty of the snow is vital. It had been over a month since I had been out hiking. Wrapping up my hardest semester of college to this point, and finals really took any drive out of me. Yesterday morning, I woke early and made the five minute drive from my house to the mountains. Yellow Canyon sits on the east side of Utah's Oquirrh Mountains. Yellow Canyon is locally famous for it's horseback riding, and awesome single track mountain bike trails. This canyon, only a few minutes drive from my house, is the perfect place to get away and experience the peace the backcountry should bring.

The air was crisp, and the sound of four dogs trampling through the snow brought a smile to my face. It felt so good to just be outside! There is something amazing about the peaceful feeling that speaks to the soul of a snow covered landscape. It's so quite, calm, and with no one else around, it's some of the most forgiving feelings around.

My point is, just get outside no matter the season, the temperature, or the reason. A simple jaunt up a canyon, post holing in the snow is worth the effort of putting a smile on your face for seeing nature in the purest of forms.

JUST GET OUTSIDE! YOU'LL THANK ME LATER FOR IT!