Today Karen and I used micro-spikes to hike at Squilchuck State Park after newly-fallen snow. We covered four miles on ridges above the park. Micro-spikes gave great traction on icy, packed snow.

On another hillside, we post-holed through deep snow on a narrow trail with a big drop-off. (Don't look down.) Karen broke trail. Glad I wore knee-high gaiters.

It was snowing and cold in the low 20s. Bundled up, I was soaked with sweat. My winter hiking conundrum: to prevent hypothermia, should I strip off wet clothes (yikes!) and change into dry clothes?

"This is a short hike," I thought. So, I spread an extra down jacket on my lap during lunch. Glad I brought hot tea! We didn't stop long.

Descending, we checked out a recently logged area. It was heartbreaking. A large part of the forest was logged as a firebreak for a nearby neighborhood.

It was a tree graveyard. The trail was destroyed. To get away from the logging, we plunged steeply downhill through a snowy gully filled with branches and logs. Leg-breaking stuff.

"This was a beautiful forest to walk in," Karen said sadly. Still, we saw beauty and poetry.

Photos: Red berries, twin evergreens, dried pinedrop plant, and delicate moss on a Ponderosa pine tree.