Today was pretty amazing. It was incredibly cold for me (10°F) and one of the challenges is learning to dress right for it. It was brilliantly sunny and I really couldn't justify going to the gym. If I was going to go out and drive in this stuff I was bound and determined to get to the river.
A couple of days ago when I was down there I saw a them staging two miniature snow plows and figured that at least the bike trail would probably be plowed and I was right although that left a couple inches of ice topped with compacted snow.. The parking area I use was a different story and it looked like only a few others had been there but I didn't have any problem. So I sort of waded the two hundred or so yards to the trail through 8 inch deep snow and was ever so grateful for my beach 'ski' pole and it's spiked tip.
I hit the edge of the park where it meets the river and was blown away with how beautiful it was. I swear, every 50 feet I would come around another bend and there would be a perfect postcard image of what a snowy, sunny, walk through the woods along a river and lake should be. One after the other with bright blue skies to go with it and more ducks and geese than I may have ever seen gathered in one place.
I couldn't get enough of it and went further than usual. I encountered a few hardy souls, some taking pictures, others riding bikes (on snow and ice!) and one intrepid angler was fly fishing. I ended up going about three miles on iffy terrain but it was so worth it.
If this is REAL winter...Bring it!
Oh yeah, I'm getting the hang of dressing, I wasn't cold at all.
