britta and i snowshoeing today on the skybear loop. heavy snows/first tracks/ice fog on the trees. the large spruce were coated with a white primer. Our hand prints warmed the colour away to expose the ruddy bark we usually see.
the rain event has ended the snowflakes return in great numbers, each flurry different from the next, so it would appear
sand is applied to the fresh frozen roads of wabos valley, attracting the pine and evening grosbeaks and the purple finches. they also gather in great numbers, but they dine in separate flocks. birds of a feather... it's been said
the roads are long and the opportunies varied but if there was only one chance would the grosbeaks and finches put aside their differences and dine together?
the table is set the weather is fine we'll see what happens in 2009
The skybear loop has been snowshoed! Angie and Mark, two brave souls from Wisconsin, have broken trail through the three and a half foot drifts. Around noon today, we got a clear call from Mark on his cell phone: "We have strayed off the trail, but we are warm and dry and having lunch on beautiful maple knoll". From his description, I could verify his location. They had crossed over on to one of our older backcountry trails leading to a maple bluff that had been spared from logging some years back. The brow of the hill is crowned with a two century old white pine surrounded by mature sugar maples. I've sat with my back to that pine, felt the wind lift then sway the giant stem ever so slightly.
The side hill there supports a grove of ironwood and a large solitary black ash. The seeds of these mast trees attract some of the bird species that pass through our area. One autumn I watched a yellow flag of goldfinches flap through that canopy, providing colour for my eyes, sustenance for their journey.
Back at the lodge, Mark told me how they had returned to the main trail, then completed the loop through the heavy snows rather than taking the same way back. I understood his meaning when he said, "It's always better to complete the circle".
We are a specie that prefers loops, circles and figure eights, even though linear constraints often want to interfere. Nature offers many lateral opportunities. We can choose our course.
Britta and Jeff, I was looking through pictures of that snowshoe trip. They are absolutely beautiful. Still some of me and Mark's favorite photos we have ever taken. And though it is several years later Mark and I have you both to thank for uncovering our LOVE for snowshoeing. That was our first trip ever and we fell in love with it. The following Christmas I bought us each a pair of snowshoes so we could go snowshoeing in WI. Little did we know that Mark's military career would bring us out to Fort Lewis, WA and we now have Mount Rainier in our backyard to climb on our weekends off. As snowshoe season quickly approaches- I just want to thank you again for uncovering that snowshoeing love of ours that was born on that New Years day back in 2009 and for all of your hospitality that weekend.
britta and i snowshoeing today on the skybear loop. heavy snows/first tracks/ice fog on the trees. the large spruce were coated with a white primer. Our hand prints warmed the colour away to expose the ruddy bark we usually see.
ReplyDeletethe rain event has ended
ReplyDeletethe snowflakes return in great numbers,
each flurry different from the next,
so it would appear
sand is applied to the fresh frozen roads
of wabos valley,
attracting the pine and evening grosbeaks
and the purple finches.
they also gather in great numbers,
but they dine in separate flocks.
birds of a feather...
it's been said
the roads are long and the opportunies varied
but if there was only one chance
would the grosbeaks and finches
put aside their differences
and dine together?
the table is set
the weather is fine
we'll see what happens
in 2009
from jeff:
ReplyDeletenew year's day, two thousand and nine.
The skybear loop has been snowshoed!
Angie and Mark, two brave souls from Wisconsin,
have broken trail through the three and a half foot drifts.
Around noon today, we got a clear call from Mark on his cell phone:
"We have strayed off the trail, but we are warm and dry and having lunch on beautiful maple knoll".
From his description, I could verify his location. They had crossed over on to one of our older backcountry trails leading to a
maple bluff that had been spared from logging some years back. The brow of the hill is crowned with a two century old white pine surrounded by mature sugar maples. I've sat with my back to that pine, felt the wind lift then sway the giant stem ever so slightly.
The side hill there supports a grove of ironwood and a large solitary black ash. The seeds of these mast trees attract some of the bird species that pass through our area. One autumn I watched a yellow flag of goldfinches flap through that canopy, providing colour for my eyes, sustenance for their journey.
Back at the lodge, Mark told me how they had returned to the main trail, then completed the loop through the heavy snows rather than taking the same way back.
I understood his meaning when he said, "It's always better to complete the circle".
We are a specie that prefers loops, circles and figure eights, even though linear constraints often want to interfere.
Nature offers many lateral opportunities.
We can choose our course.
Britta and Jeff,
ReplyDeleteI was looking through pictures of that snowshoe trip. They are absolutely beautiful. Still some of me and Mark's favorite photos we have ever taken. And though it is several years later Mark and I have you both to thank for uncovering our LOVE for snowshoeing. That was our first trip ever and we fell in love with it. The following Christmas I bought us each a pair of snowshoes so we could go snowshoeing in WI. Little did we know that Mark's military career would bring us out to Fort Lewis, WA and we now have Mount Rainier in our backyard to climb on our weekends off. As snowshoe season quickly approaches- I just want to thank you again for uncovering that snowshoeing love of ours that was born on that New Years day back in 2009 and for all of your hospitality that weekend.
Sincerely,
Angie (and Mark) Kloiber