Saturday evening the our first substantial snowfall of the season started. I was thinking of a 2:00 AM hike in the woods; I like night hikes when the snow falls. While it was bright enough, the snow at that time was just too wet. I waited until 2:00 PM when the snowfall was still happening but had turned powdery. Rather than driving anywhere I decided to walk to the woods. The snow was already 8 inches deep (20 cm) so I put on my taller combat boots. I didn't need them for the walk through the plowed suburban streets but they sure were handy once I got off them. The pictures below tell the tale of the wooded portion of the walk. I got back just before sunset and measured the snowfall to be up at 11 inches (28 cm). I had many near falls slipping on the plowed streets due to a light powder riding on top of ice.
Today, after posting this, it will be time to shovel.
The start of the wooded walk was down a dirt road. You can see that a fat-tired bicycle had come by in the morning.
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Once off that road the trail passed along the ridge of an esker.
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At the bottom is this pool. It sometimes dries up in the summer.
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Heading back uphill the path of the trail was occasionally hard to find.
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Here's a view of the woods to the side of the trail.
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Down at the bottom of this trail there is a cleared spot at the edge of a river. It is usually frozen over in January but there hasn't even been any freezing along the bank this year. A woman that we often meet on our walks in these wood spends several hours of her work day here with her laptop and, this winter, a portable wood burning stove.
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