It happened.  Naturally.  My one snowshoe hit an old tree stump that was covered with snow.  I went flying.  Literally.  Right off the ground, or snow really.  I landed on my back and slid for quite a distance, plowing through that deep snow.  I finally came to a stop, completely covered with about a foot (30cm) of snow.  Not that bad really, but at first I wasn’t sure how much snow was on top of me.  I couldn’t see or breathe under that snow.  First thing to do was getting the snow off my face.  It was actually a little difficult getting myself out of there since the snow all around was so soft and deep.

But, with some twisting and digging, I managed to get myself up on my hands and knees.  I had my snowshoes strapped on tight, but that one still came off anyway.  I’m really not sure how that happened as the strap didn’t break.  However, if my foot hadn’t come out of that strap, I just might have broken my ankle.  That snowshoe was still up the hill where it hit the tree stump.  The boot which was on that foot was also gone…under the snow somewhere.  My foot was getting cold.  And wet.  I took off the other snowshoe and tried standing up.  Twisted that same ankle as last time.  Sigh. 

I also hurt my shoulder and neck.  But right now it was important to find that boot.  I struggled back up the hill to my snowshoe, the strap was still done up nice and tight.  Amazing.  Couldn’t see my boot anywhere.  Obviously buried in the snow somewhere.  I made my way back down, very slowly, digging through the snow.  Aha, found it!  By this time my sock was quite wet and my foot was very cold. I shook the snow out of my boot, then took my sock off and put my foot back in the boot quickly.  My foot would stay warmer without the wet sock.  The point where I stopped sliding was nearly at the bottom of the hill so I decided it would be easier to go down.

From there I could see that by heading north I would come to a place where the hill was not so steep.  Easier to climb back up and get to my old trail.  With my ankle so sore I could not use the snowshoes, so off I went walking through the snow.  It wasn’t so bad…at first.  Then the snow got very deep.  Waist deep.  I could barely move through that snow and my ankle was getting worse all the time making it even harder to walk.  But it was really the only way to go.  It took a long time just to get past that area and into some nice spruce trees.  The snow was not so deep there so walking was much easier, which was a good thing. 

My ankle was in bad shape already.  And my neck seemed to be getting worse too.  Finally it was not even possible to turn my head.  Sigh.  By the time I reached the easier slope to the hill it was starting to get late.  When I finally got to the top I could see my old trail off in the distance through a nice area of pine trees.  No undergrowth here but it was still hard walking through the snow.  It was starting to get dark when I arrived at my trail, but at least it was nice easy walking from that point on.

It was completely dark by the time I made it back, quite exhausted, and very sore.  But no broken bones, which was good.  And it was a beautiful walk.  At least at the start!  But little mishaps like these didn’t stop me from going out again and again.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

© 2020 Steve McLeod.