After making breakfast, cleaning the kitchen, and seeing Wifey off for a day in the office, I collected my gear, opened the garage door, and saw a steady snow falling.

I wasn’t thrilled to be driving as it snowed (part of the aging process, I suppose, like sporting large tufts of ear hair, unkept eyebrows, and sagging scrotums tucked in socks), but a quick look at the radar showed that it should be over soon.

With that, I took off like a herd of turtles, and as I was nearing the park, the bright orange sun was now rising over the trees in the farm field to my left, and was made more luminous by flakes in the air. I couldn’t help but stop on the empty dirt road to admire the glow and snap a pic.

I was happy to finally see some more deer back in the woods, and was pleased enough with a couple shots to scratch my photographic itch. One doe looked like she might have been roughed up somehow, with a trickle of bright red blood on her ear, and a small hunk of hair missing on her torso. She seemed happy enough, and after my pics went right back to scrounging through the leaves. [NOTE: Upon further investigation, it looks as if that is not frozen blood, but could be from an infection. My bad. Well, my bad eyesight.]

About 3 miles into the lumber, the sun disappeared, and the clouds and snow were back for a little bit. Followed a mile later by high winds making the 14˚ air feel like -14˚. BUT, a mile later, the sun was back. This process would not only repeat itself for the rest of the hike, but also for the rest of the day. Michigan gotta Michigan.

The snowy lumber was slow, but I got 5.82 miles in, took a few pics, and have 11.12 miles in after two hikes. Not great, but given the conditions, I’ll take it. I can’t wait for the return of warm weather, trail running shoes instead of snowshoes, and sweat, rather than finger tips that remain numb well after the hike is finished.

Later.