Snow in the high country

[jayboogieman]

 

 

 

https://x.com/wxbrad/status/1859975741938536544

[rayzor]

been living in town since March of last year after spending 15+ years out on a farm in the middle of nowhere. 

Snow was beautiful out there, but always meant a lot of work dealing with the long driveway and long dirt road out and onto paved roads that were the last in the county to get plowed. On normal days it always took 20 minutes to get anywhere. when it snowed...yeah. forget about it for a couple days. still had to go to work, so i'd have to drive on all these narrow and windy snow covered backroads after dealing with my driveway and putting up with the nasty red mud slush on the dirt road.

if there was an emergency or some kind of urgent issue that required you having someone drive in or going out, it was just a major stressor. 

anyways, i'm just looking forward to snow in the new house in town, where my driveway is really short and the roads are plowed. i want snow that requires no work or stress on me. most people probably love the idea of being snowed in out in the country. been there. done that. i'm looking forward to snow coming in town and being able to get out and about if i need. hopefully we have some this year. 

[LinvilleGorge]

I miss getting real snow. That's the part of CO that I REALLY miss. We averaged over 100" a year at the house and it was less than half an hour up the mountain to where they averaged 300".

[rayzor]

5 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I miss getting real snow. That's the part of CO that I REALLY miss. We averaged over 100" a year at the house and it was less than half an hour up the mountain to where they averaged 300".

i think i could handle that for a year. beyond that....i don't know. 

back where we lived, when we had a few inches of snow, it might have been a couple feet because we weren't getting out and doing anything. i remember times where power would go out for days on end. we had propane and electric heat, depending on the floor. basement (had a couple bedrooms and a living room and kitchen down there) and main floor had gas logs. main floor gas logs was enough to take care of the upstairs, so we could stay warm and cook on the grill when we needed. we had a well so that was always an issue when the power went out. had to make sure tubs were filled with water for the toilets and we had gallons of water for drinking and cooking available. always had to make sure we were ready. that wasn't always the case.

we had a couple moments where we were going through propane quickly and because we were dealing with the worst propane company in the world (amerigas) they wouldn't get out to put gas in our 900 gallon tank. made for some nerve racking moments. 

i know y'all were probably a lot more able to handle that kind of thing, but after the little bit (comparatively) that we got here i just have no desire to get trapped again.

maybe for a day or two a year get snowed in and i'm good.

[LinvilleGorge]

Yeah, we'd get just a stupid snow every couple of years. Usually in April. Feet.

 

[rayzor]

3 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Yeah, we'd get just a stupid snow every couple of years. Usually in April. Feet.

 

yikes. no thanks. i love snow. not that much.

 

[rayzor]

that said...i do like going camping in the snow. one of the greatest sleeps i ever had was in my hammock with a tarp over it and it snowed 13" that night. it's been a few years, but just the sound of the snow hitting the tarp and then waking up surrounded by it was incredible

roughest one i had was setting up a new 4 season tent i had just bought and setting it up in the back yard because it was going to be snowing. About 2am i woke up and the roof of the tent was just a couple inches from my face so i tunneled out and walked through the snow to the house. we got 20+" that night. i think that was 1991 or something like that. 

[LinvilleGorge]

I went on a solo elk hunt in the Flat Tops. It was awesomely miserable. LOL

It was a late season hunt, I think third season and it was forecasted to snap off cold with highs in the upper thirties and lows in the single digits. fug it, I'm going anyway. They were wrong. The highs were in the low 20s and the lows were in the negative teens. I shivered so hard the first night I thought my teeth were going to break. It was the only time I've ever been legit concerned that I might be in trouble. Crawled out of my sleeping bag and got a fire started and suffered through the night bundled up next to the fire. I slept the next two nights literally wearing every stitch of clothing I'd brought with Nalgenes full of near boiling water in the bottom of my sleeping bag. That was the only way to have non-frozen water in the morning anyway. There was about a foot of snow on the ground and the melt/freeze crust was almost enough to support your weight but you'd go crashing through just as you went or make your step. It was exhausting travel and every step sounded like a rifle shot. Hunting was basically impossible. I never saw an elk in those four days, only saw 5-6 deer. LOL

It was brutal but I loved it. Absolutely beautiful country that is never been to before and haven't been back since. I needed that four day complete break from society fighting for my life against the elements. I'm weird like that.

[rayzor]

yeah. winter backpacking trips were the most miserable and amazing experiences. same with the coldest and snowiest hunting  experiences. i love being in it. makes for incredible memories. the worse it was, the more i ended up loving it. made the greatest memories. 

i just want to get out of it afterwards.

[jayboogieman]

From Vilas

[Khyber53]

On 11/23/2024 at 9:25 AM, rayzor said:

been living in town since March of last year after spending 15+ years out on a farm in the middle of nowhere. 

Snow was beautiful out there, but always meant a lot of work dealing with the long driveway and long dirt road out and onto paved roads that were the last in the county to get plowed. On normal days it always took 20 minutes to get anywhere. when it snowed...yeah. forget about it for a couple days. still had to go to work, so i'd have to drive on all these narrow and windy snow covered backroads after dealing with my driveway and putting up with the nasty red mud slush on the dirt road.

if there was an emergency or some kind of urgent issue that required you having someone drive in or going out, it was just a major stressor. 

anyways, i'm just looking forward to snow in the new house in town, where my driveway is really short and the roads are plowed. i want snow that requires no work or stress on me. most people probably love the idea of being snowed in out in the country. been there. done that. i'm looking forward to snow coming in town and being able to get out and about if i need. hopefully we have some this year. 

Yeah, I spent a lot of time living in Ashe County, in the Fleetwood area... 20 minutes from West Jefferson, 20 minutes from Boone... unless it snowed and then you had an hour and a half each way. And I did ski reports for radio stations back then, so yeah, I had to go in to work on those mornings.

Moved to Greensboro and 25 years later, I really miss the snow. I loved how it looked, how quiet it made the world sound, that wonderful fresh smell in the air. I know, though, that it's just nostalgia and it would be rough as heck on me now. Still, maybe once the kids are all off to college the Mrs. and I can go back to the mountains.

[rayzor]

1 hour ago, Khyber53 said:

Yeah, I spent a lot of time living in Ashe County, in the Fleetwood area... 20 minutes from West Jefferson, 20 minutes from Boone... unless it snowed and then you had an hour and a half each way. And I did ski reports for radio stations back then, so yeah, I had to go in to work on those mornings.

Moved to Greensboro and 25 years later, I really miss the snow. I loved how it looked, how quiet it made the world sound, that wonderful fresh smell in the air. I know, though, that it's just nostalgia and it would be rough as heck on me now. Still, maybe once the kids are all off to college the Mrs. and I can go back to the mountains.

i think i go in the opposite direction of most. my ideal retirement is living in some old downtown area in a flat above some shop or something. 

life out in the country was just something i got real tired of. My kids actually miss some of living out there, which i understand. that was where they grew up for the most part. 40 acres with a 2.5 acre pond. it was beautiful, but also way too much (and too expensive) for me to keep up with. 

[jayboogieman]

55 minutes ago, rayzor said:

i think i go in the opposite direction of most. my ideal retirement is living in some old downtown area in a flat above some shop or something. 

life out in the country was just something i got real tired of. My kids actually miss some of living out there, which i understand. that was where they grew up for the most part. 40 acres with a 2.5 acre pond. it was beautiful, but also way too much (and too expensive) for me to keep up with. 

Saw this listing a few days ago. It might be right up your alley if you're willing to move to Wytheville Va and have the money.