Greendragon goes a-snowshoeing, Chapter 2

What a snowy winter we're having! As I write here now, the plows are out in the parking lot, cleaning up after yet another winter deposit.

This week's snowshoeing adventure turned out much better than my last outing because:

• I went with people who knew the trail very well.
• It was a shorter hike

I went with some members of the local kayaking group. Yes, in the winter, instead of heading out to the water, we play in the snow. Originally, the hike was supposed to be a full moon hike but the park rangers didn't give us permission to be there at night (not sure why). So, a small group of us set out in the late afternoon.

I came quite close to bailing out; when I arrived at the park, the conditions looked very icy -- the parking lot was treacherous. Not very conducive for a nice snowshoe hike. But, the leader of the hike assured me that the walk up to the summit of the hill would be worth it. So off we went.

The snow was completely covered by a thick layer of ice. This had to be one of the noisiest hikes I've ever been on. We had the constant "crunch, crunch" from the snowshoes gripping into the ice. But, in the end, it was a lovely hike. This park was new to me; before the hike, I didn't even know it existed. And it's quite close to home. The view of the Blackstone river was quite nice once we got to the summit. Although we didn't see any wildlife (we were way too noisy!), we did see some deer tracks. Wonder what they though of us, as we crunched through their territory.

The hike took longer than expected so we ended up returning as the sun set. What a relief to be with someone who knew the trail...if I was on my own I'm sure I would have ended up wandering around in the dark, whimpering (as I do, when I'm tired and lost). But, we returned safely to the parking lot. But, our leader knew her way, and we happily crunched, crunched behind her. One of our group had a headlight that also helped (got to get one of those, there's bound to be another night hike this winter, if we continue to get snow).

By the time I got home, it was full dark and within an hour, our next snow storm had begun. So far, I'm liking this winter a lot. Although, this week is supposed to be bitter cold, which I will NOT like. Winter...it has its good parts and bad parts.