Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Sunny Winter Sunday

We had two more brilliant cold but sunny winter days, the kind of days that make winter worthwhile!  On Sunday I got out with a friend to tramp through his property just south of Kimberley.  It was more bushwhacking than following a trail, but it was a great outing.  I love exploring off the beaten track.

There's a small orchard in one corner of the property where I've often picked a few apples in the past.  Those are the old ski hills of Talisman in the distance.

This is just a small hobby orchard, but he really enjoys it, and is planning on planting some more trees this year.

We headed down the hill and came to the wetland, with a tiny stream meandering through.  We stepped over it with our snowshoes, and headed into the woods.

We were walking into the sun part of the time, and the fresh snow was sparkling on the trees and shrubs.  The stream shows up in the lower left corner.

Then we got deeper into the cedars, where the deer yard up over the winter.  We saw lots of tracks and spots where a few deer had spent the night.

Along the south border there are a few big old Sugar Maples.

Other parts of the property are young hardwood forest, all young White Ash and Sugar Maple, growing fast.

Mysteriously, up on top of the hill, there are several very small woodland ponds.  There must be enough clay in the soil to hold the water in these small depressions.

I've known Peter for nearly 30 years, and have walked this property often in the past, but not often in the winter on snowshoes.  He has planted hundreds of trees; I may someday write something about his love of this little parcel of land, why he bought it, and what he's done with it.

White bark in a grove of poplar trees.

He keeps a small odd-shaped area mowed, and you get a nice view of the cliffs at Old Baldy.  He's hoping to build a barn up there in the open patch; maybe I'll have some comparison pictures in a year or two.

We walked on snowshoes in deep snow for about 2 hours; I was thoroughly worn out!  Some other neighbours had been in cross-country skiing.

A view over his neighbour's field, showing the long west slope of the valley heading north, the old Talisman Ski Resort in the centre.  Here today we've had a grey day above freezing, with thick fog as a result.  But some of that pile of snow on my back deck melted too, so I've spent about 4 hours today trying to get at least some of it removed.  I'll have a few sore muscles in the morning, but I'm very glad to get some of that done.

The three narrow horizontal photos, 8, 9 and 14, are not cropped, but are iphone panorama shots.

12 comments:

  1. Everything looks beautiful in all that snow.

    The orchard trees remind me of my cousin's orchard.

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  2. I love the shots of the trees, snow clad, or limbs against the blue sky. Winter tree beauty!

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  3. Beautiful old sugar maple and nice photos of the snow on that crystal clear day.

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  4. If you keep putting those beautiful winter scene pictures in your blog going it's going to make me turn around and come back from Arizona and dig out my old cross country skies. Talisman was the very first place I ever tried down hill skiing and didn't make out too badly.....on the bunny hill.

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  5. the snow is certainly made more beautiful by those remarkable blue skies!!!

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  6. Wow beautiful. I love those winter days of snow and sunshine.

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  7. Nice! I love the blue sky, but if you're having the same cold that we are, be grateful it's not windy too. I'm rather tired of the wind by now. I like that picture showing the snowshoe and ski tracks. :-)

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  8. These clear, cold snowy days are my favorite winter days!

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  9. Love those sunny winter days, keep the pictures coming.

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  10. Love those snow scenes! When we moved to Florida frm the mountains of New Mexico we left our snowshoes hanging in the "mud room" for the new owners our home. It was sad saying goodbye to those wonderful treks. We learned to walk clear of the groomed cross-country ski trails after unintentionally incurring the wrath of a ski person! Now we live in a county which has never experienced measurable snowfall.

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  11. Beautiful images of the snow in your area. What a great place to hike by snowshoe. Love it!! My favorite winter days are the freezing cold but sunny days. Makes one feel chipper.
    MB

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  12. The sky is never so blue as on a cold, clear winter day when contrasted against the brilliant white of snow. A lovely walk! Thanks for bringing your readers along.

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