cold is good, snow is better

the day: january 7. the temp was down in the cold~er range, the upper teens. the morning's 3-4" of snow had pretty much stopped, but a good stiff wind kept blowing it out of the tops of the pines, knocking down what was piled up on lower branches.  it looked like it was still snowing, only in big sheets. it felt like it too whenever a swhoosh went down the back of my neck.

the adventure: the fresh snow and my repaired bindings got me thinking, there's got to be some decent skiing somewhere...a call to skip--who bowed out with a bum knee--later, i was loaded, in the truck, and headed over to the shaker wildlife management area, solo. as i headed up the main trail, i realized, all the frozen tracks on the trails would be death coming down with speed. a change of course over to the big fields via a very messy cross-over trail. i finished going down the upper and lower big fields.

the memories: the skiing was pretty crappy, but the fields were a nice way to finish. and the woods were sort of magical with snow dumping off the tall pines.

notes: i am glad people are outside playing in the winter, but if we don't get a bunch more snow, i will avoid the tracked up areas.

• the silkie is ok for one big oak, but for a dozen even bigger trees, no.
• call alan and see if natural resources will let me cut with a chainsaw.

go outside and play!

the day: january 2, with the temperature right around the same again, only this time in celcius, 2°C. somehow it was not so depressing for the second day in the new year, probably because it was not raining. the snow was not all that deep, and soft enough to not need snowshoes or creepers. no wind in the woods.

the adventure: up and over town hill headed to the marsh. i carried the 'bigboy', silkie folding saw, thinking about clearing the large oak blowdown and opening a bypass to avoid a stone wall. but since i had been thinking about this for a couple of years now, i was not at all sure it would happen today.

the memories: when i made it to that oak, i asked pam if she would mind going to the marsh while i stayed and cleared the new path. she was fine with that. she went on and i started sawing...and sawed...and sawed... by the time she came back i was just prying the log out of the way. she brought back a nice photo.

notes:  again, being out with pam, practically guarantees a picture. 

• remember to turn right onto the new path at the bottom of that last pitch before hall road.
• when moving large oak logs, lift with your legs--levers also really help

go outside and play!

the day: december 31, with the temperature right around the same, definitely not below 31°F and pretty depressing for the last day in the year. even worse, it was totally socked in, and threatening to rain--check that, by the time we were heading back down it was actually raining.

the adventure: i had been wanting to show pam our new ski trail, the "secret sherbie" and she was game to test out her new snowshoes--while there was still some snow. my plan was to get up to the first plateau, turn around and head down. she was game for a bit of a loop through the woods at the top, but when we got up high we were in some pretty 'thick soup'. meandering about in the clouds made her a bit nervous, so we circled back to the big birch blow down skip and i ski down.

the memories: more than a few times--even after it started raining--pam mentioned how beautiful the trail was. old stone walls heading off into the woods, with several foundations along the road were signs that long gone others*, probably thought the same.

she was also quite pleased with her snowshoes and loved them even more when i showed her how to use the climbing bails on steep sections. once we got out of the thickest fog, i took a picture--with her phone. true to form, i had forgotten my camera, again.

notes: hiking with pam is one way to always have the capability of taking a picture. 

• try to find out if there are any heirs to the marcy family* 
• climbing bails are good

go outside and play!