Went Snow Shoeing with daughter and friends to Castle Lake today (across from Mt. Shasta at 6000 feet elevation)

 We got a late start of about 3 pm for this considering that sundown is around 5 pm or earlier now. However, when we arrived only one other vehicle was parked there because the weather was pretty miserable for being out in it. So, we almost chose not to go out in this. However, we had enough warm clothes to make it work. It was windy and icy and snowy all at once in the 30s somewhere and if you weren't wearing glasses you couldn't directly look into the wind because your face was getting pelted continually with ice and snow. I was wearing a balaclava which was good because other wise the wet ice and snow and sleet falling would get your nose too cool so it felt like it was freezing off. So, whenever possible I covered my nose and face with the lower mouth part of the wool balaclava to keep my nose warm enough to do this. But, once I had crossed on the ice on snowshoes to the other part of the lake in the trees I felt some relief from the ice and snow hitting my face as I was walking into the wind. It was an amazing experience to be on snow shoes through this kind of weather. I was concerned at one point it was going to white out on us which is always dangerous when you cannot see far enough ahead in the snow. However, I realized if we stayed close enough to the trees and watched our foot prints from the snow shoes we could likely find our way back to my daughters all wheel drive car.