Both of my conditions for a perfect winter hike were met today.
- Not windy or bitterly cold, but cold enough that I'm fairly sure to be the only human out there.
- Fresh snowfall so I can see the animal tracks and the trees are gorgeous and it's perfectly quiet and still.
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| I couldn't really find the trails that I usually hike. |
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| So I made the questionable decision to follow a set of bunny tracks. |
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| They led me over this bridge with a fallen branch, |
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| and deep into the woods. |
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| I found a cute squirrel, who chattered angrily at my intrusion into his woods. |
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| There are my nice boots that I bought last year to hike in Yellowstone and Montana. Today I tested their waterproofness. In this picture, they're trying to decide if they want to go down these slippery stairs with a layer of ice under the snow. |
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| My boots and I decided to go down the stairs (carefully). |
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| At the bottom of the stairs I saw this cut tree that I imagined was laughing at me. Can you see it? |
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| Something bad must have happened here. I'm glad I don't know what. |
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| More stairs. I had to crawl through and over fallen limbs to get to them. |
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| Made it. These boots really are waterproof. |
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| I watched a squirrel dig up a nut here. After he scampered up a tree with it, I went over to investigate. How did he know there was a nut under there? |
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| Debating if this branch is going to fall on my head as I walk under it. It didn't. |
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| How spectacular to see bright red berries in a colorless landscape! |
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| These are the kind of pictures that I will cherish all summer long. |
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| They will sustain me until next winter. |
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| A welcome sight after getting (slightly) lost in the woods. I didn't pop out where I expected to, but I met my goal, which is always to arrive back at my car unharmed before dark. |
