After a weekend that featured back to back rides on the Boone, I haven’t been on a bike since. Other than some borderline useless Stankment™ based workouts, pre-moving chores, and some free design work for B’s soccer club, I’ve been a slug.
Wednesday I was jonzing to get out on the bike in the morning, but a winter storm was barreling down on Michigan and I didn’t want to get caught out in the snow storm, so I opted to attempt hiking in the woods again.
My last visit to Deerfield was a fail and I had to abort the hike in less than a mile due to the trail being one solid sheet of thick, unwalkable ice. Since then we’ve had some rain and some warm temperatures. Nearly all traces of snow were gone from town, so I headed back for another attempt.
Sadly, the trails were not all that much better this day. The combination of XC ski grooming, hikers and snowshoers packed the snow and ice damn tight, and they remained an accident waiting to happen. However there was some hikeable space on the sides. It was not going to be as long or as good as I had hoped but I made the best of it.
With the winds blowing, the temperatures dropping and heavy snow on the way, there was little activity in the park; no animals were afoot and other than a helmetless dude riding a Surly Ice Cream Truck over the dangerous, crack your skull open, hard packed icy trails, I saw no one else… just me and the trees.
As I tip toed with my ass puckered over the ice and noisily trudged through the brush of the trailside woods I decided that this mini-hike would be all about taking portraits of trees. Not landscapes, but portraits. I know that probably doesn’t make sense to you. Hell, it barely makes sense to me, but it is what it is.
You can check out the collection of shots that I got over on Junk Miles Media. Didn’t feel like doing two redundant galleries.
Trails packed down into a sheet of ice.
Post Trudge
Shortly after my short trudge through the woods was done it started snowing. Then it started snowing harder and harder, and didn’t quit until well after I went to bed last night.
After the hike and some chores I finally got in the shower. When I stepped out of the stall and got a look at my muffin top in the bathroom mirror I knew that I wouldn’t feel good about the rest of the day unless I got a sweat on. So fresh out of the shower I got some gear on and forced myself onto the treadmill for a 3 mile run lumber.
I did feel a hell of a lot better when I was done and was happy that I forced myself to do something. Even if it meant getting two showers in the span of an hour.
There were several inches of snow on the ground by 8 PM last night, and rather than wait until this morning to fire up the snow blower I headed out last night and got the driveway, walks, and our neighbors’ walks done. That made this morning’s efforts way easier. Well, until I ran over Jake’s dog leash with the blower. Yeah, don’t do that unless you want to drive to Home Depot to get a tool to cut the leash apart. At least the roads were pretty clear by then!
Not sure if I’ll get out for a for a snow-covered dirt road ramble on the Fatterson before the warm temps and rain move in this weekend and turns everything to shit soup.
Later.