the Way of the Turtle

SNOWY AFTERNOON (MIS)ADVENTURES
2 Mile Snowshoe at Thacher Park
Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Only two miles? When I had the whole day off from school and could have conceivably spent as much time and distance as I wanted to out in the snow? As always, there's a story behind it all...

We had under well under a foot of snow on the ground and it was raining lightly when I left the house to go snowshoeing; after debating between Five Rivers and Thacher I decided on the latter because I need to work on hills and I would be in the woods most of the time, so it wouldn't matter much if it kept raining. What I wasn't expecting to find - 6 foot tall piles of snow along the road and around the Hop Field parking lot, and 2 1/2 feet of snow on the ground. Fortunately, there were folks on snowshoes and skis coming off the trails, so at least I wouldn't be breaking trail the whole time I was out there...

While I was getting ready another car pulled up and a man and his young daughter got out and got ready to do some snowshoeing as well. We got to talking, I got distracted, and before I knew it my keys were locked in the car. Fortunately, the fellow had a cell phone and called the park office, who sent a very nice NYS Park Police Officer down to help. She didn't have anything to get the door unlocked... but she did phone a local towing company and waited around until they arrived. We talked on and off while waiting and I found out that a lot of folks up that way were still stuck at home because of the huge snowbanks blocking their driveways, and that other than the park HQ Hop Field was the only area they managed to plow that morning. I know some people knock the NYS Rangers and Park Police, but I've always been impressed whenever I've dealt with them, and today was no exception.

Once the towing company arrived they got the door open pretty quickly and I was finally able to get snowshoeing... of course, I only had about an hour before the park workers would be showing up to lock the gates. So I headed out on the somewhat packed loop... it was pretty incredible how much snow was out there. The picnic tables were totally buried, and any time I stepped off the path I sank past my knees, with my 25" snowshoes on! I ran when I could but mostly I just walked quickly... the trail was a bit narrower than was comfortable for me, and periodically I'd end up whacking the inside of my ankle with the opposite snowshoe... should have a nice bruise tomorrow.

The path followed the stream over to the field above the park maintainance area, then up the hill and onto a trail I don't think I've ever taken before. I passed the fellow and his daughter, a couple XC skiing (they'd gone out while I was waiting to get my car unlocked) and two more people snowshoeing. All to quickly I found myself at the top of the hill back down to the Hop Field picnic area, for a loop of about a mile. So I decided to do it again, but this time check out some tracks that broke away and headed over toward the Paint Mine area trails... I figured if someone had gone over that way I could always cut down to the road, take off my snowshoes, and run down the road to get back to the car.

What I ended up doing instead was breaking trail for a ways, in a short loop over to the bridge leading to the Paint Mine area and then back to the 1 mile loop. That was incredibly hard work and I am really, really impressed by the folks who broke the loop trail this morning; I doubt I would have kept going for a mile. The snow was wet and heavy and I had to lift my feet high to take each step, running the risk of losing my balance and falling (I did fall once and discovered that getting back up in snow that deep with no poles is not easy at all!) I ended up stopping every 6 feet or so to take a break, and I was very glad when I finally made it back to the packed loop.

The XC skiers were coming through as I was rejoining the loop, so I followed them back and we talked a bit about the park, snowshoeing and XC skiing, and some of the efforts of the Friends of Thacher Park to raise awareness and gain support for keeping the park open. I think I'm going to end up joining that organization - I just have to get up to the Nature Center to get the forms, or maybe I can get them mailed to me. I may also help them with their fledgling web site (not that I know that much about building web sites, but I know plenty of people I can ask for help!)

So while I didn't get much snowshoeing done and I had to deal with being an idiot and locking my keys in the car, I did get out in some of the deepest snow I've ever stomped around in and I may end up joining an organization that I know is going to work hard to do everything they can to support Thacher Park and keep it open. Definitely a positive afternoon, when all is said and done.

And best of all, we finally have some "real" winter around here... let's hope it sticks around for a while, despite the rain we're supposed to get on and off for the next few days.

JMH