After getting 30 miles of lumbering in 5 days last week, I took the weekend off to slack and watch footy. The slack went fine, but the footy was lackluster with Spurs losing at home yet again, 2-1 in the dying minutes of stoppage time to West Ham, who are in the gahdamn relegation zone! I continue to hate them. Moving on…

I was eager to get back in the woods on Monday, and got to the trails just as the dark night turned to dark grey daylight.

Before I started out, I did a quick recon of the trails to see if it was a microspikes or snowshoe kind of morning. With a few inches of new snow since Friday, it was definitely a snowshoe day.

Conditions were perfect with the temperature around 10˚F (-12˚C) to keep things firm, with just enough snow to make snowshoes the perfect choice, but not so much as to require breaking trail.

I wasn’t seeing much at first, just a few squirrels, here and there nut-noshing as the cold winds started to pick up, bringing the real-feel temps down to right around minus What The Fuck.

Once I crossed the river via the covered bridge, I saw a few deer run off into the woods, with one staying behind to make sure I was trustworthy. I took a few crap shots and moved on to the small Covered Bridge loop.

About a half a mile later, I stopped to take a photo of some frozen nature nubbins. The shot wasn’t working for me, and just as I was reattaching my camera to my pack, in my peripheral vision, I saw an immature bald eagle perched on a leafless tree a couple of hundred yards or more away, looking out onto the river.

It was a bit too far away for a top image, but I still hurriedly adjusted some settings and fired off a few shots. It then saw me and took off, but the distance and poor light were doing my autofocus no favors, and I only ended up with a couple shots that I could salvage. They’re not great images, but it was awesome to see, and it really put a spring in my frozen step for the rest of the lumber.

***

I tend to keep my snowshoe lumber to around 4 or 5 miles, but despite the bitter cold, I was feeling good today, and got in a 6.41-mile lumber. Sure, it took me more than 30 minutes longer than usual due to snowshoes and photo breaks, but it sure was fun to be outside.

I’m not sure if I can get the same distance in on Tuesday due to a noon time dentist appointment 45 minutes away, but I hope to get something in.

Later.