Introducing Series: Favorite Winter Hikes

Here in the western foothills around Nevada City and Grass Valley, California, the last of fall's leaves are rapidly falling. Vibrant oranges and deep reds of maples, even sturdy, rust-colored oaks, are being stripped to basic gray, naked limbs framed by somber evergreen pines. Fall is slipping quietly into a muted winter season. But neither gray skies nor trees have to mask, or even rarely limit, outdoor recreation opportunities on many dozens of low-elevation trails available to us.

Given easy access to our beloved North Central Sierras, we have many choices. Especially here in the foothills and lower elevations of hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands, we can enjoy short drives to crisp, angelically white snow or stay nearby "below the snowline, and above the fog." Either way, at the end of an outing, hot coco, tea, coffee, or even toddies are only minutes away.

But, I confess, at times having a bowl of ice snow with milk and Mexican vanilla, sitting in front of my wood stove, is close enough to the cold stuff.

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