Part I, Tuesday, 6:17 AM
I was up at 6 AM on Tuesday to tend to the dogs, drink giant mugs of coffee, make food, and slack around the internet in the dark, waiting for dark grey daylight sometime after 8 AM and a chance to get some miles in my feet.
That is all normal, except this time, as my fingers pounded the keyboard typing this bullshit, I could hear the wind blowing outside my office as mid-Michigan hysterically braced for the first taste of winter with a storm predicted to bring a mere 5″ or so of wet snow before turning to rain.
This in and of itself pains me because it’s January, and this is fucking Michigan; it’s supposed to snow and be cold during the winter, and people act as if we’re all going to die because of 5″ of snow.
Having said that, I hope my car doesn’t slide off the road and into a ditch filled with river-bound cow shit run-off later.
About yesterday.
8:01 AM, still dark, still typing.
On Monday, I did a repeat of my New Year’s Day hike, lumbering 7.02 miles in 1:52:28 before getting home to shower, grocery shop, make lunch and get shit done. As usual, it felt great to be out in the woods after two days spent goofing off.
Part II, Tuesday Trail Time
The sun was up, so to speak, and the snow was steadily falling as I navigated the Escape and its questionable tires down the road whilst its snow tires were bagged and stacked from two years ago in the back of my garage. Live and learn, am I right? (said in Facebook Karen voice).
Finally. But first, an unnecessary anecdote:
I pulled into the lot and, for some reason, for the first time in my life, decided to back my car into an empty “parking space” in the vacant, tree-lined gravel parking lot. I only mention this because I am a staunch adversary of backing a vehicle into a space UNLESS you are parallel parking or a gahdamn truck driver. It just seems like something that people who drive $75,000+ pickup trucks, where FJB hats, shoot guns, and are balls-deep into conspiracy theories do. And yes, I am OK with stereotyping when it comes to MAGA-fuck-faces. Sorry if you are a back-inner and aren’t MAGA-fuck face, but I’ll need proof.
Thankfully, moving on…
After a mild case of disappointment regarding my Fuji x70’s battery being dead upon my arrival, I headed out into the falling snow armed only with my phone and the chance to take some shitty photos and videos to post. Sorry.
The snow was wet and sticky, and the branches of the smaller trees and brush hung low like LeBron as I trudged through the woods, somehow unable to keep the smile off my face.
As I headed down a long stretch of snowy trail, I looked down and saw one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen during a winter hike: a tiny frog on top of several inches of fresh snow, apparently dead.
I stopped, took my gloves off, picked the little guy up, and poked at him a few times, and it wiggled a bit. “IT’S ALIVE!!!” I exclaimed.
So, I cleared some snow, lifted up some dead leaves, placed him down, and then gently covered him back up, hoping that he would live to frog (or toad, I have no idea; I’m no sociologist) again another day. Truly bizarre!! The only thing that comes close to this was years ago, while snowshoeing, I saw a spider on the snow.
After my brief flirtation with wintry critter care, I lumbered on to complete 5.5 miles before heading home to tend to the driveway and eventually get to the O.G. Mindbender’s office for a holiday mental recap. I did good.
Part III, Wednesday, 7:21 AM
OK, so apparently, the snow never did turn to rain, and we ended up with around 7 or 8 inches of snow. This leaves me in a real pickle. Do I attempt to get to the trails this morning in my car, take Wifey’s car, or just take today off to get some projects finished and start some other ones that I never will?
Part IV, Snow Be Damned!!
After fixing Wifey up some eggs and toasts before she started work in her home office (formerly known as The Chamber of Farts), I gathered my gear, got my snowshoes down from storage, shoveled the driveway again, and took Wifey’s car to Deerfield to stomp some miles for the first time this winter.
The roads weren’t bad, but I wish I could have said the same for the trails! The combination of wind and 7-8″ of wet snow brought down numerous trees along the trail.
Snowshoes, combined with deep, heavy snow and multiple bushwhacks to skirt around large fallen trees, meant that it took me 1:35 to hike a mere 4 miles!
I froze the ball of my Fools Gold hat!
Despite the low miles, it was a hell of a workout, especially after two snow shoveling sessions in the last 14 hours, and I have no doubt that I will be feeling it tomorrow. Still, it was worth it, and I’m so glad I went.!
I was able to get a few shots today with a real camera, but I was working so hard that I didn’t stop for photos too much; I was too busy dodging fallen trees and trying to navigate myself through the brush in snowshoes.
Part V, Thursday
It’s still snowing and by the end of the weekend we could have close to a foot on the ground or more.
OK, this is freaking long as hell, sorry.
Later.
NOTE: All photos and video in this post are via my phone. My apologies.
THE SOILED SOUNDS VIDEO OF THE POST
In honor of my long-time favorite winter hat (see above).