Equal Access To Snow Days

I drove through the winding narrow back roads that stretched across farmland and oil fields. There were brief moments of tall evergreen trees congregating near the mouth of the central section of the Sierra Nevada mountain range that bore more and more weight from the heavy dusting of white winter snow. I climbed the hills that were decorated with the occasional grazing cow and continued higher in elevation for my search for a small hiking trail and prepared myself mentally for the patches of ice on the black tar roads.

It was after the second patch of black ice and the passing of a second car on the side of the road putting snow chains on their tires that I decided to do the same. I struggled to put them on for a slightly embarrassing amount of time before I proudly climbed back into the driver’s seat of my vehicle, now covered in snowy dirt that was melting into a muddy mixture, and continued my trek.

I ended up having to stop my car behind two other vehicles just after passing a sleepy village of rental cabins. Two sets of families exited their vehicles and asked me if there was another way up the mountain to the hiking trail.

“There is, but it’s a few hours to go around on the main road,” I responded. I could see the disappointment on their faces. Smiles turned to looks of concern as the thoughts and the idea of their family snow day began to…