Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Walk in the Woods, Part 2

Picking up my snowshoe walk in the woods where we left off yesterday, I had to climb over the old stone fencerow, and walk round the edge of the field, then through the woods until I rejoined the trail where I came in.

It's a little awkward climbing over this old stone fencerow, so I walked along it until the snow provided a route up, and then along the top of it until I could easily get down.  Worked better than falling on my nose going straight over!

Leaving the woods behind for 5 minutes,

I headed out along the edge of the field.

Looking across the field it appeared that a lot of snow had been blown into the woods on the far side.  I waited until I could look straight down the old farm lane before getting the picture.  This is the lane with the beautiful old dry stone walls I've shared before.

It was really easy breaking trail in the fresh new snow with my big snowshoes; they were big enough that they didn't sink in much.

They worked fine.  One trick with snowshoeing is to have snowshoes that don't sink in too far, so that as you step forward you don't catch the tip of your snowshoe on the snow.  If you do, it's often head-first into the snow!  The long 'tail' on the back of these ones helps prevent that too, by dragging behind.  Smaller snowshoes are worse if they sink in far.

I rejoined the trail I had walked in on,

under this interesting twisted snow-on-a-branch,

and back through the forest toward the beginning.

All around me the woods was white.  I cropped this to try and capture the snow in the understory shrubs at eye level in all directions.

Some interesting patterns of snow on the trees!

Some of you commented on my snowshoes yesterday.  I have three pair I regularly use, the big ones on the left the ones I used on this hike - when the snow was deep and I would otherwise sink in too far.  At the opposite end are the little aluminum and plastic modern snowshoes, which are ideal for a well-trampled trail.  When I go on organized snowshoe hikes I usually end up at the back of the line (as the slowest person), so I have no problem at all with quite tiny snowshoes.  And in the middle are those 'bearpaw' snowshoes, for times when I'm walking with just a friend, as long as the snow isn't too deep and I'd need the big ones.

There's a widespread myth that the Inuit have 100 words for snow.  The truth is more complex, but you do have to be aware of a wide variety of snow conditions if you're going to do much snowshoeing or cross-country skiing.  You just adapt to what you find out there.

13 comments:

  1. Excellent shots!

    It's been quite awhile since I was last on snow shoes.

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  2. Thanks for the Snowshoe lesson. I've never had the opportunity to use them when I was younger and now at this time I'd rather think of warmer weather and Sandals.
    More beautiful pictures again today.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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  3. That would be an adventure but I'm freezing at five degrees F.

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  4. Simply stunning.
    No snow for us, just ice.
    Thank you for sharing your hike with us, that is a lot of snow😂
    Jo

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  5. It looks so wonderful; I remember when. and have enjoyed many sunny winter days like the in the bush, thanks for sharing.

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  6. A Winter Wonderland! It's a real pleasure to read posts by someone who relishes winter.

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  7. Wow - your neighborhood is a beautiful world of winter white!

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  8. Hello, lovely winter wonderland. Lovely snowy scenes and photos. Happy Wednesday, enjoy your day! Merry Christmas to you and yours!

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  9. A lovey place for snowshoes of every kind. Mine look different from any of yours, more like the small pair but mine are bigger than that. I wonder if they still make any of those large ones you use. What a beautiful place to explore; thanks for sharing. :-)

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  10. More gorgeous images of the blue skies and snow. I enjoyed seeing your snowshoes, I'm not sure I have ever seen them before!! I like the picture of them lined up!!

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  11. Such a great way to celebrate winter!

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  12. wonderful snow images
    i do enjoy all the forms it takes
    and how it cloaks itself over everything
    fun to hear about the different snow shoes
    i only have the modern ones
    for the most part i wear my xc skis
    but i have not done any this year
    we do have enough snow though, i have just been walking and sinking knee deep ;-)
    lovely holidays to you!

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  13. Beautiful snow pictures.
    Ah about the snow shoes. I tried with a pair of those little ones and the snow was deep.
    I'll have to give it another try with the proper ones. Thanks for the tips.

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