Aki and I climb the old mining road along Gold Creek. It’s snowing—nothing dramatic, just lazy flakes the drift like confetti. Aki loves the trail because it offers a lot of dog on dog interactions. I love the way the snow collects in irregular lines on the top edges of cottonwood limbs. Above, the Perseverance Trail marks the slope of Mt. Juneau like a poorly healed wound. It provides a point of interest on a white hillside.