Hello everyone, here we are with our first look at my journal for this year. Since this is January, what do we have in my journal for that month? Hmm, here we are with something that looks interesting, a walk from some years ago. Let’s see what we will discover…

It’s a cold January day, not as bad as some though, but a more typical cold day. The temp is -25F (-32C), the sun is shining beautifully, the sky is a deep blue, and there is no wind. That’s a real plus, no wind. A good day to try some snowshoeing. There was a new spot I wanted to go and check out, so this is the day. There is a lot of snow this year, about 3 feet (close to 1 meter) on the ground, just right for snowshoes. I dress warmly for the occasion, 2 pair of socks with warm winter boots, long underwear, heavy jeans, shirt and sweater, parka, toque, scarf and two pair of mitts. Plenty to keep me warm. I strap on the snowshoes and away I go following the lake shore where the snow is about 5 feet deep as the wind blows the snow off the lake and into the trees, where it stops.

I decide it would be better to go across the lake, it would be shorter and easier than crossing the beaver dam up ahead. And with all the cold weather we have had, the ice will be safe enough. I made it across with no problems, didn’t even hear any cracking. However, the rock hill on the other side was a problem, no way to walk up there. So I had to backtrack along the shore until I found a spot to get up. The walking has been easy so far, but it is cold, even with the scarf my face is feeling that cold air. But I continued up the hill, what beautiful scenery at the top. The sun was shining through the jack pine which was abundant on this hill. Then they gave way to red pine.

I stopped. It was just such a beautiful picture in front of me. There was not a sound, just perfect quiet. The sun shining through those pines, the long shadows across the snow, and a small leafless shrub here and there beneath those large pines. And not even any animal tracks, just a new fresh, undisturbed landscape. It felt like I was the first person to explore this area, though I’m sure I wasn’t. I kept going over the the other side of the hill. It was very steep, but I wanted to get to the bottom. From where I was standing I was about at the tops of the trees which were growing at the bottom of the hill. That would make it about 80 feet down, not so bad, but I need a way down that wasn’t so steep. Not far away I found what I wanted, the way down was not bad and it took me to a narrow ledge which led to another easy spot down. I started across the ledge, it was just wide enough for me to walk and there was no problems getting to the other side.

But, that’s where the trail ended, it was just too steep to go any further, so I had to go back across that ledge. No problem, and off I went. But, part of that ledge was just snow hanging over the edge, and it gave way. Down I went rolling down that steep hill. Suddenly I stopped. My left leg got wedged between two rocks and with the snowshoe stuck there it stopped me nicely. Well, kind of anyway. I was head first down this steep hill, with my leg stuck, and I lost the mitts on my right hand. Who knows where they are. I had to quickly brush the snow off my face. The snow here was soft and more than 3 feet (1meter) deep. Now what? My hand was quickly getting cold so I took my scarf off and wrapped it around my hand. There was no way I could move that leg however. I unstrapped my other snowshoe so I could move around easier and I could use it like a shovel to move some snow out of the way. Without the scarf my face was getting a lot colder. I need to pull myself up so I can remove my other snowshoe and get my leg loose.

To Be Continued.

Pictures are not from that walk, they are recent pics from my walk to the river.

©2021 Steve McLeod.