the Way of the Turtle

WINTER WONDERLAND
1.9 Mile Snowshoe At Thacher Park
Sunday, December 15, 2013

Woke up to a bit under a foot of snow... at least I'd shoveled last night so clearing the walk was easier than it might have been. Didn't have to do much more than brush the car off to get out, though parking is going to be a mess if the city doesn't do something about the snow sooon.
 
I was really struck by how much I've missed Thacher this year... ordinarily I'd have gone there once a month or so to run, but this year I've only been there a couple of times to walk.

I bypassed Hop Field - too many XC skiers - and headed over to the lots near the park office, figuring I'd walk along the escarpment. No one there at all - a plus in terms of having the trail to myself - but a minus in that I was breaking trail the whole way out. So it was a slow slog.

I had planned to take the trail behind the Haile's Cave picnic area back, but breaking trail slowed me down too much and I didn't want to risk getting locked in. Instead I backtracked - definitely easier going than the way out.

One plus to all that unbroken snow - I wasn't even the slightest bit tempted to try any sort of running, so while today's walk was hard work, it wasn't my usual start to snowshoe season ("Geez, this is so much harder than I remember!") Hopefully the snow will stick around long enough for me to build up a bit more gradually and determine whether running on snowshoes is in the cards this season.

JMH