Back when Ken and I were dating and I had accepted his marriage proposal, many years ago (like 39+), I knew I was marrying a guy who likes the out-of-doors. The gift he gave me that first Christmas was a pair of ice skates.Ken bought me this pair of snowshoes shown here in the header about 36 years ago. They've seen a lot of winter hiking, although we abandoned snowshoeing for quite a few winters after we got our cross-country skis. My snowshoes are the old style, handmade of an ash wood frame and cowhide. They're a good, study shoe. Ken's are the new-fangled aluminum kind. His seem to sink deeper into the snow than the old style does, so I'm satisfied to still have my original pair.
Today was perfect for snowshoeing. We've had two nice, heavy snowstorms over the past three days. I asked Ken if we should plan to snowshoe or cross-country ski today. I thought his answer made sense: we'd snowshoe today in order to make a good trail for cross-country skiing tomorrow.
So that's what we did this afternoon.I love being in the woods in the winter, and by "being in the woods," I mean going out into our backyard and entering the woods from there. We can go about 1/4 mile into the woods and still be on our own property, so we don't need to worry about trespassing.
We saw a lot of evidence of deer, as you can see from the first photo. That's a perfect impression of a deer hoof in the snow. We saw various deer trails and several "beds" where they've spent the past few nights. We noticed a spot where they go to drink fresh water, for several of their trails led to that one spot of open water.
We saw evidence of a woodpecker's hard work, which is obvious in the second photo.
I suffered only one mishap, a tumble forward into the snow when my snowshoes slightly crossed each other. That's what you have watch out for when snowshoeing: the shoes want to cross each other when you're not looking. I'm thinking it would be smart to take my ski poles with me the next time we snowshoe.
Here's the nice trail we made for tomorrow's skiing.
And here we're arriving back home after our little jaunt in the woods.
What a nice post. I love to read blogs from the Northeast. I live in the Pacific Northwest now but spent most of my life in Texas so snow shoeing is something new to me. Enjoyed reading your blog.
ReplyDeletewhat a fun time you are having enjoying the outdoors during winter. I've always wanted to go snowshoeing but haven't. Have gone Cross country skiing and I spent a lot of time falling down. But it is beautiful and quiet outside in winter.
ReplyDeleteThat sounded like an excellent idea. Your trail will be perfect for your cross-country skiing tomorrow. I'm hoping to see lots of lovely photos. You're so lucky you get to do this and get terrific exercise while you're at it.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos! Looks like you had a great time, and tomorrow will have an even better! Does Molly go with you?
ReplyDeleteAaaah. Like your snowshoes, your marriage is "long lasting". How very nice.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful snow photos.
Good for you. When there is that much snow (and cold), I just want to stay inside--that's why I live here now. But, I did enjoy your walk vicariously.
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