Solstice Sunrises

Yesterday was the winter solstice here, so the days are now getting longer!  Spring will inevitably come.  In the meantime, the shortest days are a good time to get sunrise pictures, because the sun rises so late - after 8 a.m. yesterday for the solstice.  Makes it easier for me!

This first sunrise was two weeks ago, a gentle pink across the morning ski.

If I zoom in on the sunrise, I get those bright colours at the heart of it all, but the trees along our fencerow are always in the way.

And by the time the sun actually rises, all colour in the sky is gone.

This second sunrise is the actual solstice sunrise, a beautiful slightly orange sunrise spread widely across the sky.  I had left the camera in the car overnight, so I had to get dressed fast to get out and get it.

The colours in this one were just gorgeous.

And from a somewhat different angle, through the window, the sun actually rises, 15 minutes later.  It should really be called a 'pre-sunrise' morning sky!

I also managed a couple of moon shots one night, not quite at the full moon, and not quite clear, but nice never- the-less.  Hope you're all ready for the holiday!

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First Ski of the Season

After my first snowshoe outing on Sunday, described in the last two posts, on Tuesday I joined my energizer bunny ski buddy, and got out for our first cross-country ski of the winter season.  Conditions were amazing for before Christmas, thanks both to the heavy snow last week and to all the volunteer trail groomers.  We had a great ski.

Our favourite trails are at the Glenelg Nordic Ski Club, where 400 acres of public and another 200 acres of private land provide hours and hours of great cross-country trails, all maintained by volunteers.  We try several different xc ski places each winter, but these are always the best.

We started into the trails off the sideroad where parking is available.  One of the best things here is the maps that are available, done on an air photo base, and posted at several junctions along the trails.  It's really easy to find your way around, though you could ski all day if you wanted to and never use the same trail.

The trail we took starts through a coniferous patch, including this shaded stretch of track between young White Pines, and it's going downhill which is nice.

It curves around the edge of a pond, but that's the only open spot on the whole loop we skied.

Most of the trail is through mature deciduous forest, though with gusting winds it was even penetrating among the trees.  We didn't want to stand still too long, but the skiing kept you warm!

We like the Glenelg trails best both because they are consistently so well groomed and track-set, and because they are quite hilly.  You do have to pay the price of climbing hills, but that's good for the old cardio, and the long downhill runs are exhilarating.  As usual, the energizer bunny was disappearing in the distance.

Mind you some of the hills are a little tricky.  Long straight runs downhill are fine, but you have to have your wits and your balance about you when the hills have curves and disappear out of sight around a bend, like this one.  I always hesitate here in case someone's coming the opposite direction.  You really need to know how to snowplow; having downhill skiing experience, even if I'm not doing it anymore, is really helpful!

The woods were snowy, the tracks were untouched and fast; and keeping up with the energizer bunny gave me some great exercise.  We had a great ski!  Here's to many more to come this winter!

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.

A Walk in the Woods

The sun was out, and the fresh snow was beckoning.  With at least two feet of fresh snow on the ground, I dug out my oldest snowshoes, the largest ones, and headed for a walk in the woods on the farm next door.

These are my original snowshoes, purchased at the locally famous Ellwood Epps Sporting Goods store on the highway heading north to Algonquin Park about 50 years ago.  I first used lampwick harness, then leather harness, which wore out several years ago, so the harness is new, but the snowshoes themselves have stood the test of time well.  Nowadays I only use these ones for deep fresh snow, where they work great!

I headed into the woods following the old tractor trail, the first part through very young Sugar Maples casting long narrow shadows.

As I entered the more mature woods, the fallen trunk of this big old maple had crashed almost to the ground now, after being hung up at one end for two years after it originally fell.

All around me the woods was white, lots of snow caught in trees or stuck to the western side of the tree trunks.

Hard to imagine a nicer winter walk than this.

With the sun only two days from the winter solstice, it was very low in the sky casting long shadows, even at 3 p.m.  And the dried rustling beech leaves will be there all winter.

It's amazing how snow manages to collect in big lumps on the branches.

Underneath this long lump in the snow is my spring Trillium log;  I always stop here for a picture or two in mid-May when the Trillium are in bloom.

Like this....

The tractor trail peters out, but the neighbours who own the farm have done a little wee bit of clearing branches to allow for easy walking through the woods.

And out to the edge of the field, where you have to cross an old stone fencerow.  This is the half-way point of the loop, and I'd taken 30 minutes.  I'm  wondering how much of that was stopping for pictures, and how much was breaking the new trail through the snow.  That always takes a little longer.  I'll take you through the second half tomorrow.

 Winter solstice is almost here!  And the days will start getting shorter.  The sun reaches its lowest ebb on Wed. morning here, about 5.45 a.m..  That's only 34 hours away, and then the days will start getting longer!  Yeh!

Simply a Beautiful Winter's Day

We woke to beautiful blue skies and sunshine.  With a fresh 3+/- feet of snow over the past week, it was just a beautiful winter day.  The second half of the storm didn't amount to much actually, but it added a nice 8-10" of white fluffy snow on top of the previous 2+ feet.  It was chilly at -15°C (5°F), but no cold wind, so it was really comfortable out (provided you were dressed properly).

 The meadow out back.

The front 'lawn'. 

I like the little mountains of snow around every tree, stuck there as the snow around them subsides.

 Our White Birch which stands out so much better in the winter.

The side yard, looking very undisturbed - the deer must be staying down in the swamp.

The rest of the side yard, the garden hidden under lumps of snow.

And down the road the pines are draped in white icing. 

While snow accumulates in lumpy clumps on the little twigs of the hawthorns.

When the green world is changed to white I briefly wonder what I'm going to find to photograph, but I dug out the big old snowshoes this afternoon and went for a walk in the woods.  Took over 150 pictures!  I'll tell you about the walk tomorrow.